ANC not threatened by election results – Mokonyane

ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane says her party is not threatened by the election results and, if need be, it will occupy the opposition seat.

“We must respect the voice of the South Africans, and therefore those who have been elected by the South Africans will be invited by the ANC and will be based on principles failing which we will humble ourselves and sit on the opposition,” she said. Mokonyane was speaking to Sowetan LIVE at the IEC Results Operational Centre in Midrand on Thursday.

Mokonyane said the principles are based on accelerating the South African economy, providing basic services to the vulnerable, creating job opportunities and also offering better health care.

She added that the ANC will make a comeback to claim the majority of seats in parliament. “While others had wished to see us outside of determining the future of South Africans, the people of South Africa have given us a chance. We need to come back and reclaim our space, not arrogantly, but we reclaim our space in terms of accelerating change at a faster pace,” said Mokonyane.

She highlighted that the performance of MK party led by their former president, Jacob Zuma in Kwa-Zulu Natal does not shake the ANC.

“In terms of party politics [MK party] is the new kid on the block. We don’t know how far it will go but we know that the ANC is 112 years old,” she said. By 10am on Saturday when the vote allocation was 98.4%, the MK Party had scored 45.93% of the votes in the province followed by the ANC with 17.62%.

Nationally, ANC stood at 40.12% (6,203,262 votes) followed by the DA with 21.74% (3,361,661) and the MK Party with 14.79% (2,286,493).

Meanwhile, DA leaders have not ruled out working with the ANC in the 7th democratic administration.

Helen Zille, chair of the DA Federal Council, said: “We’ll explore all options to find the least bad choice for South Africa and work towards preventing a disastrous coalition.”

While DA leader John Steenhuisen said it was too early to make a decision, “I am not ruling out anything at this stage. You do not rule out anything until the boards have the final results, but I will say this: the DA emerged as the second-strongest party in the country.”