Cape Town – DA’s Helen Zille has criticised the ANC for failing to acknowledge its loss of power and accused the party of not being transparent in negotiations over Gauteng’s executive division.
Talks collapsed as the ANC allegedly offered the DA only three seats in a 10-member Cabinet, excluding the premier.
Seaking during an interview with 702, Zille claimed ANC factions complicated negotiations, predicting a challenging road ahead for the Government of National Unity (GNU).
“My reading of it is that they want to stay in power, but they need to be propped up in power, and they don’t want to fulfil the statement of intent that we signed on the 14th of June, which basically says that we have to share power proportionally to the electoral outcome as well as to try and be inclusive.”
She added: “It’s going to be very bumpy; the ANC has never had to share power. The ANC has never actually had to read, study, mark, learn and imminently digest documents they signed.
“We take those documents very seriously. There’s a principle attached to them and we are saying you must respect a document that your national leaders signed and don’t just say ‘of course we accept that and try and push it off the table’ and then force upon us an agreement that demonstrates that you haven’t read it, or if you have read it, you don’t intend to respect its clauses,” said Zille.
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She emphasised the importance of honouring agreements and hinted at ongoing tensions within the ANC leadership.
“The national leadership was there at the meeting yesterday. My counterpart, Fikile Mbalula, was there and you can see the tensions between various factions, of course its very, very obvious.
“They brought a delegation of about 10 people if I’m counting correctly. We had three while they had a very large number of members I presume to cover all the factions they have to please. But that is not our problem, it is their problem. They must understand that they tried to pull the wool over our eyes and we saw through it,” Zille said.
On Tuesday, she told a media briefing that the day is willing to return to the opposition benches in the Gauteng legislature.
Zille disclosed that the ANC wanted to retain seven MEC positions, offering three to the DA, EWN reported.
“This approach was not conducive to building an atmosphere of trust. We wanted clarity on these issues.
“The ANC today conceded that they had intended to allocate 3 seats to the DA, and seven to themselves, out of a cabinet of 11 (including the ANC Premier). This division falls far short of the requirements set out in Clause 16 of the Declaration of Intent, given that the DA comprises 45% and the ANC 55% of the government of provincial unity (GPU),” she said.
The DA believes Lesufi’s Cabinet should reflect the recent election results, where the ANC received 34% of the votes and the DA 27%.
Zille said that the DA is comfortable in opposition and not desperate to join the government.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
