DA-ANC Deal Would Be A Disaster, ANC Heavyweight, Lindiwe Sisulu, Warns Ramaphosa
Outspoken ANC heavyweight and National Executive Committee (NEC) member Lindiwe Sisulu has warned her comrades against forming a coalition government with the Democratic Alliance (DA).
For the first time since 1994, the ANC failed to win a majority in Parliament in the 29 May elections, resulting in the governing party seeking coalition partners.
Reports suggest that ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was considering a “soft coalition” with the DA.
IOL reported that the partnership would see the DA take up strategic positions in government and the legislatures.
The ANC scored 40.18% at the polls, the DA achieved 21.80%, while former president Jacob Zuma’s newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) scored 17.4%.
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Since the ANC did not meet the 50% threshold required for an outright majority, it would need a coalition partner to govern.
However, speaking to Independent Media, on Monday, Sisulu said a coalition with the DA would be spitting on the graves of fallen freedom fighters. She said:
Firstly this looming disaster, if the ANC would ever partner with the DA, could’ve been avoided had the IEC (Electoral Commission of SA) done its work properly.
I was instrumental in setting up the IEC because I was deputy minister of Home Affairs at the time when Buthelezi was minister of Home Affairs. I ended up signing a lot of the legislation which saw the IEC did its work properly.
I would think that after 30 years the commission would be able to run a fair and transparent election.
Since 26 parties complained about the counting and the results, the IEC for its own credibility should’ve issued a recount. That has brought us to this.
In all the time I spent in prison fighting apartheid, I did not do it for the DA. The DA is the epitome of what the previous government represents.
The idea that black parties cannot govern is very racist. It is an insult for people who oppressed us and who threw us in jail for fighting for justice to tell us that we can’t govern.
The president of the ANC cannot enter a coalition with any party without the NEC’s approval. He is president of the country because of the ANC voters. He will not throw those votes away.
I hear the discussions in the media and some quarters of society saying that it will be good for the country and good for capital if the ANC went into bed with the DA, well those are the talks of capital.
I know that the president has friends in capital, but capital doesn’t decide internal ANC matters. If it does then perhaps I’m in the wrong party.
Asked if she supports an ANC-MK coalition, Sisulu said many of the soldiers that she trained with in the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) camp who later left the ANC were justified in walking that path. She said:
I was trained in MK. When we were in the camps I used to imagine that one day we’d come home dressed in our uniform and land at the airport to the salute of our people.
But when we landed, the MK soldiers were starved. They were not taken care of, but other people, who came out of nowhere were the ones giving us orders.
Today those people are at the top seats in our movement. The MK soldiers and comrades are our comrades.
We must lead the ANC back to glory. I never thought I’d see the day when our very movement takes orders from Stellenbosch.
Meanwhile, the MK Party is looking to derail the election of a new president by threatening not to send its 58 members to the first sitting of Parliament.
This over objections to the 29 May polls and a demand for a vote recount.
The MK believes that a National Assembly should comprise at least 350 members to constitute a quorum.
However, constitutional law academic, Pierre de Vos, told EWN that even if MK members were not present, the show would go on.
He also warned that if the elected MK members stayed away from Parliament for 15 consecutive sessions, they stood to lose their seats.
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