ANC delays Lesufi’s plan to announce cabinet again

It took another last-minute call from the ANC leadership to force Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi to postpone the announcement of his cabinet for the second time in eight days.

This came after yet another deadlock with the DA in the province over the formation of a provincial government of unity.

ANC provincial head of elections Lebogang Maile on Monday night accused the DA of being "bullies" and "spoilt brats".

"We have received instructions from the national leadership of the ANC. Because ANC is a leader of society and a democratic party, we have decided to postpone [the announcement] in line with the ANC framework on this matter which says we should work with everyone, including the DA," said Maile at a press briefing held in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The postponement is the second in just over a week.

Lesufi first postponed the announcement on June 23 after receiving a call to do so.

On Monday night, Lesufi arrived at the venue wearing a grey suit. He was seen outside greeting people.

However, minutes later, the ANC called a press conference and said the announcement would be postponed.

Maile said Lesufi was ready to announce his cabinet which did not consist of the DA. The stalemate between the DA and ANC appears to be over the share of MEC positions.  Maile said the ANC has struck a deal with other parties represented in the legislature.

"What is causing the delays [in announcing the cabinet] is the DA wanting to behave as if we are partners and also wanting to dictate who must be invited in the GPU [Government of Provincial Unity]. We can't be doing that," said Maile.

"The list of cabinet members is in the pocket of the premier. It is ready and does not consist of the DA. It is unfortunate that the Gauteng leader of the DA Solly [Msimanga] is going around the media, painting the ANC as being unreasonable when it is them who are causing the delays.

Earlier on Monday, Msimanga said he had met with the ANC in the morning to discuss the DA’s proposal and Lesufi promised to give him an answer by 4pm but this never happened.

“The ANC has failed to come back to us. If they think they can make an announcement without prior engagement, the deal is off. We only see in the media that he is planning to announce without talking to us about our proposals."

"They want to impose which political parties to work with and we made it clear with them that we are not in a coalition with them.

"For some reason, the DA believes it is in charge and can decide for us. we have concluded with other parties but the DA is behaving like spoilt brats..." said Maile.

ANC provincial secretary TK Nciza said Lesufi would make the announcement by Tuesday as they still wanted to engage the DA further. 

Earlier on the day, the DA announced that it would boycott Lesufi's announcement after the ANC failed to revert to them following a meeting held in the morning. 

"It is unacceptable. We invited everybody to come because in terms of the votes, we are above every other political party. This GNU and GPU are an ANC concept.

"Moving forward, we will take guidance from our leaders," Nciza added.

ANC provincial deputy secretary Tasneem Motara said Lesufi was disappointed that the announcement had to be postponed again.

"I think it’s sad and unfair that one political party in the legislature wants to stall this process… The premier is really disappointed that for the second time now he has not been able to establish a government so that we can proceed with the business of running government in the province.

"We constantly communicate with all the parties and it's causing anxiety with other parties represented in the legislature," Motara said.

Following the postponement, Msimanga said the ANC is negotiating in bad faith.

"We elected Panyaza Lesufi as Premier and we elected Morakane Mosupye as Speaker all these without making demands. We agreed to a power sharing engagement as we understood that non of us won the elections. Now they come to us with an offer of a single or two MEC portfolio(s), while they take the other 7-8 to themselves.

"How is this fair or a representation of the voters' wishes in Gauteng. A party with 34% (28 seats) wants to dictate to a party with 27% (22 seats) that they’ll only get one or two positions out of 11 and they’ll keep the rest," said Msimanga.