ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has used his opening address at the party’s national general council (NGC) sitting on the East Rand to defend the decision to form the government of national unity (GNU).
The decision was taken by the national executive committee (NEC), the ANC’s highest decision-making structure in between conferences, just weeks after the 2024 national and provincial elections when the party’s support dipped below 50% for the first time since the dawn of democracy.
The NGC is expected to dissect the NEC’s decision to form the GNU, which includes political parties such as the DA whose policies clash with those of the ANC.
Some ANC members had complained that the NEC did not properly consult party structures before deciding to get into bed with their “enemy”.
Since the formation of the GNU, the ANC and DA have clashed on policy decisions in government including broad-based BEE, the newly established transformation fund worth billions and the Expropriation Act.
But Ramaphosa, anticipating a heated debate over the GNU, used his opening address to tell the NGC delegates that ANC policies have not been diminished under the GNU.
He said the priorities that the GNU agreed on align with the ANC’s own policies such as driving inclusive growth, job creation, reducing poverty, tackling the high cost of living and building a capable, ethical and developmental state.
“In its assessment of the first year of the GNU, the NEC agreed that we have safeguarded the core progressive policy agenda of the national democratic revolution,” said Ramaphosa.
“Through the GNU, the ANC has continued to execute its agenda for nation-building and fundamental social and economic transformation, albeit under difficult conditions. We have stood firm against resistance campaigns mounted by right-wing forces and have not retreated from progressive domestic and foreign policy positions.”
Ramaphosa told delegates it was the NEC that had said the outcomes of the elections, in which the ANC’s support dropped to 40%, precluding it from forming a government on its own, placed the onus on the ANC to ensure there is stability, unity, peace and progress in the country.
“After considering the various available options, the NEC decided to invite all political parties in the National Assembly to form a GNU as the best approach to move the country forward,” said Ramaphosa.
Parties in the GNU include the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, UDM, Rise Mzansi, Al Jama-ah, PAC and the Good Party.
The parties had to be accommodated in Ramaphosa’s national executive in return for their support to install him as president of the republic.
There had been unhappiness among the party’s members that ANC patronage was not disbursed properly as some of the critical positions were given to other parties.
Some of these portfolios that have raised the ire of some ANC members include home affairs, which is occupied by a DA minister; correctional services, which was given to the FF Plus; the deputy finance minister portfolio, which is held by a DA member; co-operative governance and traditional affairs, which is occupied by the IFP; as well as basic education, which was given to the DA.
These portfolios have been identified as critical ones that should have been occupied by ANC deployees, they claim.
The NGC is expected to debate whether the decision to form the GNU, especially without widespread consultation, was correct and if it will not further dent the ANC’s electoral fortunes going into the local government elections in 2026.
TimesLIVE
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