‘Agreements reached with parties to move SA forward’

The four key political parties who are expected to form part of the government of national unity (GNU) will hold caucus meetings on Friday to give a line of march to their MPs on how to vote in the National Assembly. 

In a press briefing held on Thursday night following the ANC NEC meeting in Cape Town, the party's secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the ANC had reached a breakthrough on common agreement with majority parties to work together to move country forward.

He said the ANC had spoken to a total of 17 parties. These include the IFP, PA, DA, Rise Mzansi, Al Jamah whom Mbalula said supported the idea of GNU.

"This represents a breakthrough to us," said Mbalula.

"We and our partners decided to gravitate to the centre and put the interests of the country first... Our conversations were not transactional. We are in no position to govern alone. The GNU represents the election results... Now that were are here, we must talk to everyone," said Mbalula.

The National Assembly is expected to re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as the country's president, as well as the speaker and deputy speaker. The ANC, which could only manage to win 40.1% of the votes nationally in last month's general elections, has been vying for the GNU with other parties to form a government.

ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said her party will have another meeting at 9am today. 

"We will outline tomorrow's process tonight [Thursday]. Remember there are new members of parliament in this 7th administration so they can't be expected to just enter the chambers without having been briefed by party officials," said Majodina yesterday.  

Asked if the ANC and partners have decided on names to be voted to lead the country, Majodina said: "Tomorrow [today] by 1pm the nation will know who will lead over the next five years. I can't reveal that information because I don't know the names at this stage and I am just a party deployee. The officials will tell us which names to vote for," she said. 

Chief whip of the IFP, Narend Singh, said they will hold a meeting today to discuss how their party members will vote in the National Assembly. 

"We are part of the government of national unity, we have publicly made a statement so we will support President Cyril Ramaphosa as president and for speaker and deputy speaker, we are still waiting for names," said Singh yesterday.

The IFP announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to join the GNU with the ANC and the DA for the good of the country. 

Charles Cilliers from the Patriotic Alliance said it had its meeting with the ANC on Wednesday and no other meeting has been planned.

"We are voting with the GNU – we said from the beginning we want to be in the GNU. We were the first party that said we can be part of the GNU. The ANC said to us they were very pleased with our attitude that we want to be part of this government and that the PA will be a very valued partner in this government.

" We want to be part of it because we want to rebuild the country. We don't believe we are going to make a difference on the sidelines," said Cilliers.

The DA's Solly Malatji kept his cards close to his chest about its caucus meetings and said it will make its votes known today. 

Al Jamah and the African Christian Democratic Party, who have also reportedly been brought into the fold by the ANC, are set to get cabinet positions.  

Al Jamah is reported to be eyeing deputy positions in one or two ministries while Gayton Mackenzie, who leads the PA, has set his eyes on being a minister of home affairs or police.  

Meanwhile, the EFF which held a press conference on Thursday, maintained that it will not be part of the GNU. 

"Ramaphosa suffers from an inferiority complex. He cannot work without supervision. To invite the DA, is to invite supervisors. It's not to invite progressive white people to come and join hands to rebuild South Africa," said Malema.