By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula has reiterated that the Government of National Unity (GNU) was part of the resolutions taken by the party.
Mbalula was speaking as the keynote speaker at a networking and fundraising gala dinner in Komani, Chris Hani region, Eastern Cape.
He discussed the setbacks the party experienced in the election outcomes, saying that the GNU was a tactical intervention to regroup and recapture power.
“A GNU is not a melting pot. An opposition does not cease to be an opposition because it’s in the GNU. ANC does not cease to be what it is because it’s in the GNU,” he said.
Mbalula added that the new government does not stop the party from making advances such as the signing of the Bela Bill and the NHI.
“We will not back down; the president will sign one bill after another,” he said.
“We don’t love GNU. We don’t romanticise it. It is a tactical option.”
He also hit back at critics who called the ANC sell-outs for forming the GNU with opposition parties with different ideologies.
“But we can’t lock ourselves in a corner simply because of ideological inadequacy and on the simple understanding that we are forming a black front of black excellence,” Mbalula said.
Continuing in isiXhosa, the secretary-general emphasised that the party did not form the GNU by begging parties to join, and they invited everyone to join.
Mbalula also spoke about the challenges faced by the ANC since President Cyril Ramaphosa took the helm as leader, including corruption, the need for renewal, the Covid-19 pandemic, and load shedding.