ANC brokers prisoners-for-coalition deal with PAC

12 August 2016 - 12:50 By Genevieve Quintal

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) wants its political prisoners released in exchange for entering into a coalition with the ANC in Ekurhuleni. “We still struggling with political prisoners‚ who we believe have been kept there illegally‚ and we had talks with the ANC (African National Congress) national leadership previously and we never really came with fruitful results‚ but we believe with this particular power that we having… we can then make them listen to our demands and release our political prisoners‚” national spokesman Kenneth Mokgatlhe said. He said the PAC had more than 100 political prisoners still sitting in jail. According to sources in the two political parties‚ the ANC has brokered a package which will allow it to govern Ekurhuleni with the PAC and the African Independent Congress (AIC).PAC spokesman Kenneth Mokgatlhe on Thursday confirmed the deal and said the ANC was the only party to approach it.Mokgatlhe said the PAC had met with the Gauteng ANC leadership on Wednesday.Now the PAC will take the deal to its national executive committee meeting to be held on Sunday.The ANC has 48.6% of the vote in Ekurhuleni with 109 seats‚ while the AIC has 1.6% of the vote with four seats and the PAC 0.4% with one seat.The ANC needs 51% to govern the metro outright.Mokgatlhe said the PAC also wanted its members‚ who were working in a number of government departments‚ to be treated better.“Members are not given serious positions… we can amplify our role in government… (We) believe with this power we can have ANC listen to our demands‚” he said.He said the PAC would also prioritise the issue of land. ..

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