ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has sought to clarify that differing views on the pathway to transformation must not mean that the GNU becomes a quick scheme to achieve narrow ideological wishes.
“The GNU ensures political stability and prevents those with anti-democratic impulses from derailing the democratic project,” he said.
However, he added that the NEC was clear that the GNU ideal must never come at the expense of transformation.
Briefing the media on the outcomes of the national executive committee meeting which sat at the weekend, he clarified that despite the GNU being a conglomerate of parties which formed a government after the watershed 2024 national elections, it would not serve as a platform to abandon progressive redress laws.
“The GNU is not a marketplace where the rights of the majority can be traded, diluted or negotiated away. It is a contested site of struggle where the strategic leadership of the ANC is critical. We are encouraged by the recent developments of resetting the button and ensuring that political parties work together.”
Mbalula said the ANC reaffirmed its commitment to the GNU, saying that it remains a necessary instrument for safeguarding South Africa’s constitutional order.
“It does not mean that the DA in the GNU will change to become [something else], or that the ANC will change to become the DA, or the UDM or Patriotic Alliance or other parties will change and become something else. We are there to serve our people and the ANC will never change in the transformation that we believe in.”
Mbalula said this did not mean that parties are in a melting pot, agreeing with each other ideologically, but that national interest and cohesion in the country was paramount.
According to Mbalula, the task at hand means revisiting the statement of intent, reviewing what has been said and paving a way forward to what will be done to consolidate their work.
“Even if those who are outside in civil society, like Solidarity and AfriForum, can put up misleading, white supremacist billboards, those things will never stop our march to ensure that this country is fully transformed and fully equitable for all its citizens, black or white.”
Recently, civil society lobby groups such as Solidarity erected banners along the M1 South between Smit Street and Empire Road, which read: “Welcome to the most race-regulated country in the world.”
Solidarity said this was part of its awareness campaign regarding race laws in the country ahead of the G20 summit later this month.
According to Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann, the banners, which have since been removed, said the “The purpose was to hold up a mirror to the world of South Africa’s racial policy. The government is now denying its own policy and removing references to it.”
The grouping has taken to the courts to challenge the banner removal, demanding that the City of Johannesburg either reinstate it or return it to them free of charge.
Meanwhile, GNU partner the DA has established a process to introduce a bill which seeks to scrap BEE, replacing it with an “economic inclusion for all” bill.
The party erected a huge billboard which reads: “BEE made ANC elites rich while South Africans remain poor. Choose real opportunities for all. Vote DA!”
The party says it wants the Public Procurement Amendment Act of 2024 to be amended to repeal all race-based preferential procurement provisions and replace them with an empowerment system that targets poverty, not race, as the proxy for disadvantage.
As it stands, the DA’s amendment, proposed and submitted to the National Assembly by its policy head Matthew Cuthbert, has not seen the light of day in parliament but has already been widely rejected by the ANC, the DA’s largest coalition partner.
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