UDM speaker Bantu Holomisa has called on the Chief Justice to convene a meeting with all political parties represented in parliament, following the ANC's announcement of its intention to form a government of national unity.
He said the announcement will have significant implications for the future governance and direction of our country.
Holomisa said the ANC needed to explain its proposals to all parties in parliament.
“People must remember that over nine million voters are against the status quo, so the ANC should have at least had the courtesy to call everyone. We wrote to the Chief Justice and his office has acknowledged receipt, and we are still waiting for an official response,” Holomisa says.
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has called on politicians to take the poor into consideration when considering the type of government they want.
Several political parties, including the DA and EFF, rejected the proposal.
“What we want to convey to them alike, as a faith community and as a church, is that certain values are very important: the value of inclusiveness, the value of ensuring that the poorest are not marginalised or ignored, the value of peace and stability and prosperity for all South Africans,” says Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, president of the SACC.
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Political analyst Levi Ndu said the ANC appeared undecided about which party to form a coalition with after it announced it would seek to form a national unity government with opposition groups.
Discussions to form the seventh government based on this proposal are continuing this weekend.
The DA is one of the parties that has voiced support for the proposal, despite ideological differences between the DA and the ANC.
Ndu said political parties should set aside their differences and go ahead with the proposal.
“The reference to 1994 means adopting a methodology where we can agree on many issues, and remember the 1994 deal. We had to adopt the principle of sufficient agreement because at that time, MPs knew that if they voted on certain issues, it could further divide the country, so they had to avoid voting. So, I think there is a possibility of adopting such a methodology to move the GNU forward,” he says.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Anele Muda called on the ANC to consult with South Africans about its proposals. He was addressing the media in Johannesburg yesterday.
“If this is honest and he really cares about South Africans, then President Ramaphosa, the current president, must invite South Africans to contribute to the principles that define what the pillars of a government of national unity are to be built on. If he does that, we will see that this is not just a political ploy by a political party to make its case. How selfish can you be when you have a political party that has declared itself the ministry that they will be leading?”
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