- DA leader John Steenhuisen, Freedom Front Plus’ Corné Mulder and Rise Mzansi’s Songezo Zibi are united in opposing an expansion of the GNU.
- Ramaphosa hasn’t spoken to his biggest coalition partner since firing Andrew Whitfield in June, and promised meetings between leaders haven’t happened.
- While the ANC reportedly wants to add ActionSA, Build One SA and the National Coloured Congress, these parties demand credible reform plans and funding commitments beyond mere statements of intent before they will consider joining.
Three parties in the government of national unity (GNU) say the ANC must first address shortcomings in the current government before expanding it with other parties.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday evening in his closing address at the ANC’s national executive committee meeting that more parties could be approached to join the GNU.
READ: Fed-up ANC won’t kick DA out but mulls including ActionSA and NCC in GNU shake-up
However, the DA, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and Rise Mzansi say Ramaphosa should rather focus on fulfilling promises to his current government.
DA leader John Steenhuisen, FF+ leader Corné Mulder and Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi each point out that GNU party leaders do not meet regularly enough with each other. Moreover, the GNU’s dispute resolution committee, the Clearing House, has still not adopted terms of reference.
So far, this committee has only met about the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act last year. The committee, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, has not met, for example, about the deadlock in budget negotiations earlier this year, or about issues such as the Expropriation Act.
We still haven’t had our bosberaad between party leaders, or the bosberaad between Cabinet members that was promised last year.
— John Steenhuisen
He added: “There is just no cooperation. The last time the president spoke to his biggest coalition partner was when he fired Andrew Whitfield [as deputy minister on 27 June]. Surely it can’t work like this.”
Mulder agrees with Steenhuisen: “Current members’ aspirations are not even being pursued, so why add more members?”
According to Mulder, the ANC will first have to get consensus from its coalition partners in terms of the statement of intent, which was signed by all GNU partners.
We [the FF+] will not be in consensus with that. The strategy [of the ANC] is clear. The ANC wants to stay in power at all costs and will even dilute its current partners’ support to get that support.
— Corné Mulder
Steenhuisen points out that the statement of intent stipulates that sufficient consensus must exist among GNU members before new members can be invited to join.
READ: DA give ANC ammo to be booted out of GNU
Sufficient consensus only exists when parties that jointly represent 60% in the National Assembly – the ANC (39%) and the DA (21%) – agree on an issue.
“But there are already so many other urgent issues in the GNU that I don’t know how wise it is to try to involve other parties,” says Steenhuisen.
Zibi also believes the current GNU is “not a good environment to add new partners”.
Party leaders first need to form a more substantial agreement than what currently exists. Because the current agreement is not working well.
— Songezo Zibi
“Currently, there are nine separate agreements: The parties that each signed the statement of intent with the ANC. But something more coherent than that is needed.”
Steenhuisen, Mulder and Zibi have confirmed that the ANC has not yet contacted them about its intention to expand the GNU.
DA sources say if the ANC wants to expand the GNU, they will also have to give up some of their own positions in Cabinet.
The DA holds proportionally 30.2% of the seats in the GNU. However, its six ministers hold only 18.8% of Cabinet posts.
In contrast, the ANC got 62.5% of Cabinet posts, although it holds only 55.2% of the seats in the GNU.
While the DA, FF+ and Rise Mzansi appear to be opposed to expanding the GNU, Patricia de Lille’s Good party says they do not see a problem with it.
“Given that the GNU is a government of national unity, it is self-evident that the ‘unity’ part would seek to encourage as many constituencies as possible to be represented in it,” says Brett Herron, secretary-general of Good.
The PAC is also open to new members.
“I think we have also stated previously that it would make sense if we were to have other smaller parties to form part of the GNU,” says Azania Tyhall, the PAC’s spokesperson.
The IFP, the Patriotic Alliance, the UDM and Al Jama-ah did not respond to enquiries.
READ: Rapule Tabane | The GNU will be no different from the old ANC unless things change
City Press’ sister publication Rapport has learnt that the ANC reportedly wants to add Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA, Mmusi Maimane’s Build One SA (Bosa) and Fadiel Adams’ National Coloured Congress to the GNU.
ActionSA says they are open to negotiations with the GNU, despite the fact that they rejected an initial invitation.
However, the party adds that the GNU to date does not look like it will change South Africa’s fate.
“While we would not want to speculate on engagements that have not happened, should such an engagement transpire, ActionSA’s considerations will be based on whether our involvement will bring about the much-needed reforms in our country,” says Matthew George, ActionSA’s spokesperson.
Bosa says they will only join a government that is serious about reforms that will grow the economy, create jobs, fix education and fight crime.
“This requires more than the statement of intent; it demands credible funding plans and alignment with budget spending priorities,” says Roger Solomons, Bosa’s spokesperson.
