ANC Left Blue Faced Amid Insistence of Accommodating All GPU Signatories As DA Pulls Out of Talks
The ANC held a media briefing at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 3 July, to update the media on the latest developments in the Gauteng Provincial Unity Government (GPU) negotiations. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula reiterated the ANC's commitment to resolving the impasse with the DA when word came that the Official Opposition was pulling out of the protracted negotiations. Briefly News covered the live gathering.
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Tshepiso Mametela is a seasoned journalist and an evening/weekend editor at Briefly News. Mametela, who reported live from the presidential inauguration of Cyril Ramaphosa, has written articles on politics, crime, court cases, and various other topics.
Source: Original
JOHANNESBURG — As African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula spoke about his party's stance on the Provincial Unit Government (GNU) impasse with the Democratic Alliance (DA) during a press briefing at Luthuli House, their counterpart in the negotiations had opted to pull out, effectively ending talks.
Word of the development was still some time off as Mbalula, along with Gauteng Premier and provincial ANC chairperson Panyaza Lesufi — who've been spearheading the GPU deliberations on behalf of the ANC — got into the minutiae of the protracted talks on Tuesday afternoon.
ANC, DA cut ties as GNU talks end
Mbalula, like DA Federal Council chair Helen Zille before him — as what emerged in her party's media briefing on Monday night following discussions with the ANC — maintained that the two parties were willing to work their way around the supposed deadlock.
That is until a journalist in the ANC briefing notified Mbalula that the DA was pulling the plug on their continued involvement, with the DA reverting to its position as the Official Opposition.
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This development meant Lesufi could announce executive committee members late on Tuesday, no longer fretting about the DA filling the three provincial cabinet positions the ANC initially offered them.
Lesufi committed during the briefing that he would finally make the appointments and there would not be a third postponement.
"We're [announcing] the executive this evening, and this time, it's not going to be postponed ... With what our national leadership will finalise, we will announce a cabinet representing Gauteng's citizens," Lesufi said.
DA pulls plug on GPU involvement
Mbalula might have spoken too soon when he said:
“We’re still hopeful the DA will be part [of the GPU]."
In the same breath, he responded:
“It’s fine — I will not answer that from the podium. But we’ll make it clear we’ll work with them. But, if they’re out, we can’t delay the impasse; we must continue with the government. And Panyaza will answer that question tonight.”
The briefing got underway with Gauteng as the only province out of the nine without a government.
Lesufi postponed the first announcement to give the negotiations time to play out, while the DA boycotted the second one.
Mbalula said the ANC separated the national and provincial negotiations to avert the notion that the national agreement would automatically cascade into a deal in the provinces.
He said the formation of the GPU in Gauteng was not without its challenges.
“The process followed in Gauteng was determined by the ANC’s provincial leadership in consultation with the national leadership and guided by the strategic framework adopted by the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC),” he said.
“The ANC invited parties representing the Gauteng provincial legislature to negotiate and establish a GPU.
“However, the negotiations have been protracted and have not produced an outcome as yet due to several factors. It is important to note that some progress has already been made.
“The election of the speaker, deputy speaker and Gauteng Premier on 14 June is an outcome of the negotiated agreement between these provincial layers of leadership.”
Clear reasons for breakdown
Mbalula agreed with the DA that the modalities constituting the provincial government and cabinet were in dispute.
“The ANC confirms that we had an extensive engagement with the DA [on Tuesday], which was conducted in a frank and open spirit, aimed at giving effect to the democratic mandate of the people following the 2024 national and provincial elections.
“Regrettably, and notwithstanding an initial agreement regarding the formational of a provincial executive council, this process has not proceeded with the same alacrity.”
The ANC also confirmed that it wrote a letter to the DA on Tuesday morning, asking that the parties return to the negotiating table and not declare a deadlock.
“The ANC reiterates our firmly-held conviction that the task of setting up a government in the economic heartland of our country is both urgent and overdue.
“It will be irresponsible to continue with this impasse.”
Lesufi said the ANC had met with the 11 parties, which are signatories of the GPU statement of intent, including the DA, Freedom Front Plus (FF+), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
“We even met with the parties that didn’t sign but which the national leadership — the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), MK Party (MKP), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), and Action SA.”
“We [entered] all the negotiations, including the cancellation of the announcement of the executive twice, with the cooperation, guidance, and support of the national leadership,” he said.
ANC publicises GNU statement of intent
In related news, Briefly News reported that the ANC faced questions from the public about whether it knew what it was signing up for after publicising its GNU statement of intent.
The statement of intent contains 26 clauses divided into the preamble and the modalities of the national government. TK_Nala questioned whether the ANC fully understood sections 18 and 19 of the clause.
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Source: Briefly News
