Both the DA and IFP have expressed interest in joining a government of national unity (GNU) with the ANC, while the MK Party and EFF have rejected the idea of a GNU.
All three parties would garner enough support together in the National Assembly to ‘form a government and elect a president and Speaker’.
Also read: City of Cape Town demands removal of election posters by 8 June
In the meantime, a group of smaller parties have written to Chief Justice Raymond Zondo to intervene in the matter, as reported by News24.
Previously, on Thursday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced that the ANC would consider constructing a GNU to ‘forge a common future for the country.
The next day, a discussion document from the DA revealed that the official opposition was ready to ‘engage the ANC about co-governing for the next five years’.
The DA’s conditions for cooperation included that the Constitution be respected, an efficient and clean public service, a framework for economic growth and the devolution of powers to provinces and metropolitan municipalities.
The DA has also indicated a supportive stance of Operation Vulindlela.
Operation Vulindlela is a ‘joint venture between the Presidency and National Treasury’, designed to clear blockages in the state, promote governance and policy reform and to drive the three workstreams that comprises the government and private sector.
On the same day, the IFP released a statement which stated that the party is ‘not averse to a GNU […] However, the devil is in the detail, which will become clearer in the coming days, thus enabling the IFP to make a well-considered decision.’
However, both Jacob Zuma’s MK Party and the EFF rejected the possibility of a GNU, calling it ‘racist’ and a way to ‘force the DA into government’.
The MK party was talking to the ANC but was not prepared to engage with them regarding the GNU, according to Nhlamulo Ndlhela, MK party spokesperson.
‘We are not buying into that thing. It has the remnants of the DA. In 1994, we were sold a dud in the form of the GNU, so participation in the GNU is a perpetuation of poverty, racism and economic marginalisation,’ said Ndlhela.
‘We want to engage with patriotic parties, who have policies to form a government that will truly transform our country and government and liberate our people, particularly black South Africa,’ Ndlhela added.
‘We are now going to listen to them when they come with a much more detailed report on how they respond to the policy issues that we have highlighted, because if there is going to be any government that is going to be constituted, it must be based on common core principles and not just the convenience of positions,’ said Shivambu
‘At the core of what we are going to agree upon should be policy issues that seek to undo the legacy of the remnants of apartheid and colonialism, which are still a lived experience in South Africa,’ he added.
Also read:
Picture: Deaan Vivier / Gallo Images