South Africa's political marriage of convenience avoids divorce - just

But as the children of all toxic relationships know, it can be painful to watch the tantrums played out in public as each side tries to prove they are the best parent.

The loveless union in this case is what is called the Government of National Unity (GNU) - which was formed in the wake of elections last year when the African National Congress (ANC), the party that brought in democratic rule in 1994 with Nelson Mandela, lost its parliamentary majority.

Its arch rival, the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) party, agreed to join the ANC as its biggest partner in a coalition, which has just celebrated its first year anniversary. There was no popping of champagne - there have only been cross words.

But the two leaders, President Cyril Ramaphosa of the ANC and John Steenhuisen of the DA, have shown how their partnership can ideally work when they supported each other in the Oval Office showdown with US President Donald Trump in May.

After Trump confronted the delegation with a video in support of discredited claims of a white genocide in South Africa, it was Steenhuisen - the agriculture minister in Ramaphosa's cabinet - who assured the US president that the majority of white farmers wanted to stay in the country.

Their performance proved to South Africans the GNU was worth the bickering at home.

Together the unlikely pair hold the political middle ground in South Africa and have the potential to be a stabilizing force - this is certainly the opinion of big business.

Their alliance initially raised some eyebrows, given that they were opposed "ideologically [and] historically", but the business community largely welcomed the move, political analyst Dr Levy Ndou told the BBC.

For the DA it was a chance to get their hands on the levers of power - and stop what it regards as radical opposition parties like uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) forming a "Doomsday coalition" with the ANC.

Both these parties are led by former ANC officials whom Ramaphosa would rather not cozy up to - plus it would make the cabinet even more of a battleground.

Investors would also not be happy - and Ramaphosa would be left with more of a migraine than a headache.

However, as any relationship counselor will tell you, you cannot force someone to change their behavior.

"This GNU... does not mean that the ANC or DA will change their characters," said Dr Ndou, who is based at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa.

"The ANC will always want to push the transformation agenda, the DA will always come with pushback strategies and... that will be a permanent source of conflict in the GNU."

The latest crisis - over Ramaphosa's sacking of Andrew Whitfield, a deputy minister from the DA - has really upset Steenhuisen, who held a press conference detailing his heartfelt complaints.

These include Ramaphosa's decisions to push ahead with various bits of controversial legislation "that have far-reaching consequences for our economy and economic growth as has been seen by the reaction from some of South Africa's largest trading partners."