By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The SA Communist Party (SACP) described the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Government of National Unity (GNU) demands as “untenable”, saying the party’s attitude is undermining the will of the people and jeopardising the country’s stability.
Fullview understands the negotiations between the African National Congress (ANC) and DA were progressing and a deal might be reached that would allow president Cyril Ramaphosa to announce his executive this week.
SACP national spokesperson Alex Mashilo said all GNU partners must recognise the ANC’s majority vote and warn against what it’s called the DA’s “hostile takeover attempts of government”.
“The DA’s trickery, hypocritical and untenable demands vindicate the SACP, which has on the record expressed strong opposition to a coalition with the DA.
“In doing so, the SACP made its preferred option of an ANC-led minority government with the features of a government of national unity clear.
“The DA’s trickery, brinkmanship and untenable demands tend towards the division of the cabinet, which would be akin to a federation of unaccountable ministers if there were to be one part of the cabinet which would operate separately and accountable to the DA as its ‘ministers’, rather than adhering to the unified whole cabinet outlined in the constitution.
“According to the constitution, the cabinet is appointed by the president, to whom the executive authority is vested. It includes the deputy president and ministers, together with whom the president exercises the executive authority,” said Mashilo.
He said the DA’s demands fly in the face of the constitution and labour law.
“A party that has claimed to support ‘the separation of party and state is now vehemently demanding the exact opposite.’
“It has pretended to have a problem with cadre deployment” and anti-constitutionalism, but it is now demanding that the president must accept new practices which would amount to an exclusive DA cadre deployment,” Mashilo added.
ANC lost its parliamentary majority in an election last month, the first time in 30 years, which forced it to seek coalition partners. The SACP accuses the DA of seeking to upstage the ANC.
Democratic Alliance chairperson Helen Zille outlined the party’s conditions for joining the GNU in a letter dated 23 June 2024, emphasising that the DA’s decision to join the GNU hinged on its ability to effect substantial change and not merely occupy positions of power.
Zille said the DA’s proposed distribution of cabinet seats was a clear and fair way to implement clause 16 of the statement of intent.
“It is obvious that the distribution of positions in the cabinet can only start with a consideration of the relative electoral size of the parties participating in government. Governments, by definition, are made up of parties participating in government. They are not made up of parties in opposition — that is what parliament is for,” she said.
She said it was “only fair and reasonable” for the DA to be represented across all cabinet clusters. This would include the ministries of mineral resources and energy, transport, and trade and industry.
Zille said her party also sought to have its own preferred candidates as deputy ministers in the same ministries where it would have ministers, except in the finance ministry, where the DA wanted to have one of its own as a deputy minister to Enoch Godongwana.
Financial markets have been on tenterhooks over how Ramaphosa’s new cabinet will look, as it will give a good indication of how the ANC intends to share power with its largest rival, the DA.
In total 10 political parties signed up to the unity government after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority in an election last month for the first time since the end of apartheid three decades ago.