By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane says the door remains open to join the Government of National Unity (GNU) amid talks to expand coalition government.
His remarks comes after the African National Congress (ANC) resolved to consider broadening the GNU by including additional opposition parties.
ANC formed the so-called GNU in June last year after losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
GNU has committed to a broad reform agenda, including fixing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), driving economic growth and job creation, addressing the fiscal crisis, strengthening the rule of law, and enhancing governance and services at local government levels.
Maimane outlined BOSA’s political agenda for the fourth quarter of the year during a media briefing held in Rosebank, Johannesburg, on Thursday.
Maimane criticised the GNU, currently led by the ANC and including the Democratic Alliance (DA), Freedom Front Plus, Inkatha Freedom Party, Patriotic Alliance, GOOD, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, United Democratic Movement, Al Jama-ah, and Rise Mzansi – for failing to deliver on its promises.
“BOSA wishes to address the Government of National Unity itself. The GNU has been in office for 14 months.What South Africans have seen and experienced is endless infighting at the expense of progress,” Maimane said.
He added that, by almost every available metric, there had been no meaningful progress.
“We take no joy in this, because it is South Africans who suffer due to governance inertia. It is a sign that the time for the same old approaches is over,” he said.
He said if the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and MK Party ever joined the GNU, his political party would gladly remain in Parliament’s opposition benches.
“Adding political parties like MK and many others will complicate the issue and make it impossible for us to be part of what will become of parties that are not ideologically or governmentally coherent.”
Maimane clarified that BOSA has not been formally approached by the ANC or any GNU partners to join the alliance.
The door remains open from both sides, but it is conditional,” he explained.
He said Bosa would not welcome those who did not respect the constitution, “looters” or parties who claimed only to represent specific racial groups.
“You cannot run a government on that basis,” said Maimane.
All partners must commit to non-racialism, constitutionalism, the rule of law, and justice through redress.
Additionally, a measurable government plan must be adopted, focusing on investment attraction, economic growth, job creation, crime eradication, corruption fighting, education reform, and fixing state-owned enterprises like Eskom and Transnet. Ethical leadership is also essential at all levels.
Maimane, who founded BOSA in 2022 after resigning from the DA in 2019, positioned his party as a fresh alternative focused on ethical governance and economic reform.
BOSA secured two seats in the National Assembly in the 2024 elections, with Maimane leveraging his experience as DA leader (2015-2019) to advocate for inclusive politics.