Secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC) Fikile Mbalula says the event on Monday marking the 100 days of the Government of National Unity is not a celebration, but an important reflection.
The ANC’s alliance partner, the SA Communist Party (SACP), has indicated that it would not honour the invitation to attend the GNU 100-day event in Joburg. The event is expected to be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila has been vociferously opposed to the GNU, which the ANC entered with several opposition parties including the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Reacting to the snub by one of its tripartite alliance partners, Mbalula told journalists in Joburg that the stance adopted by the SACP was rather unfortunate.
“We have invited all our alliance partners to come to the reflection of the 100 days. Reflection of the 100 days is no celebration. There is nothing to celebrate. We are thanking out people for voting ANC and committing ourselves, reflecting these 100 days on what we have done,” said Mbalula.
“They (SACP) will miss the opportunity to reflect on the GNU and what we are doing in terms of the GNU led by the ANC, what the ANC has done in terms of government as a whole in terms of accelerating social transformation. It’s an unfortunate situation because today we were supposed to start with a bilateral meeting with the SACP.”
Mbalula said on Sunday he received a call from Mapaila who informed him that the scheduled meeting should be postponed.
“It’s really unfortunate because we would have started at 10am with the bilateral meeting and maybe talk about this moment. The SACP also had a politburo this past week. Nonetheless we will wait till we finalise the date at a later stage. We are very much committed to bilateral meetings with the SACP,” he said.
Mbalula said part of the achievements of the Government of National Unity has been to inspire a positive energy across South Africa, with hope rekindled.
He said the ANC is criticised for entering into the GNU arrangement with the DA, but that is not what the former liberation movement wanted.
“We characterise the GNU as a tactical intervention. There is often an accentuated verbosity about the GNU that the GNU is something like we, in the ANC, love. This was produced by the moment. We could have come to GNU, grand coalition and all of that but this is not what we envisaged. We did not struggle for a GNU.
“We were campaigning for an outright majority which we did not get. We cannot be forced by other political parties. We made our own tactical choices. We arrived at the decision that GNU for South Africa is good. That is what the ANC decided.”
Mbalula said all parties in South Africa were invited to take part in the GNU yet others refused.
“We are not allies with the DA. GNUs are coalitions are constituted not by allies but in most cases they are constituted by rivals – political parties who do not necessarily agree ideologically. We and the DA are water and oil - we don’t mix. The DA fights for what they believe but we will keep grinding in terms of ensuring that we deepen social transformation,” he said.
Mbalula said the national executive committee of the ANC saw the GNU arrangement as the best foot forward for South Africa and it was adopted as policy.
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