ANC will have to make concessions when it comes to GNU disagreements – Ntuli

Ntuli

Cape Town — The new chief whip of the African National Congress (ANC), Mdumiseni Ntuli, said the party has accepted that it will have to make concessions to pass bills if parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) disagree with its policy position.

Ntuli said there would be regular engagement and hoped the matters would be addressed before any disputes occurred. He was aware of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) view on the SABC Bill, which is currently under consideration by the communications committee, EWN reported.

Ntuli said the GNU’s working relationship in Parliament so far has been to iron out sticky issues, which has gone well.

“It doesn’t mean that there won’t be times when we disagree. There will still be times when we disagree, and each party will stand by its own position and seek to persuade other parties to the correctness of their own perspective. But our commitment is to engage one another as GNU partners regularly,” he said.

He added that the collaboration in Parliament should extend beyond the GNU to partners to other represented political parties.

“There may be instances where one of the GNU partners also raises a matter that gets the support of the opposition because the opposition party believes they should not just oppose for the sake of opposing on that particular question. So, the engagement has to be a dynamic one which transcends the boundaries of the GNU.”

According to TimesLIVE, Ntuli said its MPs have to enhance their capabilities to convince others to support their position. He is the first chief whip to lead a caucus that does not have a 50+% majority, which previously allowed other chief whips to push through unpopular decisions.

He said it has been a challenging task but the ANC caucus also understands that all its MPs need to apply themselves adequately to the work of Parliament.

“There’s no room for anyone to disappear for a day or two or for a meeting or two given the fact that numbers are not on our side — but equally we have a responsibility to enhance our capability to advance a superior logic in the work of parliament,” he said.

Ntuli said the party did not want matters to be settled by votes, not because the ANC no longer had a majority, but because the ANC should cultivate its capacity to persuade the correctness of the position it wants to advance.

This is quite a change of tactic by a party that previously pushed through unpopular decisions by using its numbers in the legislature. He said

He revealed that he was chairing a GNU whips forum, a platform on which the GNU parties exchange ideas about issues before parliament.

“We understand that there may be issues where we are disagreeing in the GNU and the commitment we have made is that never mind how much we disagree, we must never run away from engagement so that when we engage we can have a meeting of minds,” he added.

Ntuli said the mechanism has been working effectively but it didn’t mean that there won’t be a time where the parties disagree but the commitment was to regularly engage with other parties where the engagement extends beyond the boundaries of the GNU.

“There are few instances where we disagree with the DA and we disagree fundamentally about certain issues and we have accepted that and in those areas where we disagree, we disagree and when they come before parliament we will have to find a mechanism through which we take positions and decide on the work of parliament,” he said.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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