ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane. (@ANCECape/X formerly Twitter)
- The ANC’s provincial executive committee in the Eastern Cape met in East London on Monday to discuss recent elections.
- The party says any coalition talks that demand for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa needed not to be entertained.
- Find everything you need to know about the 2024 general elections on News24’s Elections Hub.
The Eastern Cape ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC) believes a government of national unity is the best option for the party after it failed to attain majority votes.
The party in the province also said it was not prepared to support any coalition talks that demand the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This is as political leaders, nationally, are planning to meet each other over talks on how to form a national government after there was no outright winner in last week’s elections. The ANC attained only 40% of the total vote cast.
In the province, the ANC got 62% of the total vote – a decline of about 6% from the 2019 general elections.
On Monday, the PEC met in East London to discuss the outcomes of the recent general elections and the party’s position on coalition talks.
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The committee also nominated and agreed on three names of candidates to be submitted to Luthuli House for the premier position.
The names are that of current premier and the party’s provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane, Eastern Cape legislature speaker Helen Sauls-August and Social Development MEC Siphokazi Lusithi.
Mabuyane told the PEC members that he was looking into coalition talks with keen interest.
“[It] is important that President Cyril Ramaphosa continues as president of the Republic for stability and continuity under the new government, and as the Eastern Cape we must once again be the voice of reason during this time within the ranks of our movement.”
Mabuyane told PEC members:
It cannot be that our poor performance in the national elections can be blamed solely on our president who was leading us from the front during the election campaign. The ANC still wields enormous power after these elections as it received more than 6 million votes.
He urged the ANC to refuse to any attempts “to negotiate with a gun to our heads”.
“Therefore, the ANC should enter negotiations for forming a government from a strong basis, based on being the party that received the majority of votes.
“We must remember at this difficult moment that the ANC under the leadership of President Nelson Mandela formed a government of national unity even though the ANC won the 1994 election with an outright majority.
“Madiba formed a government of national unity to defuse ethnic tensions in the country.
“There is a lot of discontent in our country currently and, with no political party amassing over 50% of the votes, therefore a government of national unity might be what we need to ensure cross-party collaboration to take our country forward,” Mabuyane said.
Referring to the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, Mabuyane said opposition parties at the national level were already setting the ANC “ridiculous demands” for forming a government.
“These include calling for the ANC president to resign. Such a demand must be rejected with the contempt it deserves by all of us comrades unless we want to weaken our organisation further.
“We must understand that our opponents, especially those who formed the MK Party, would want to reverse the renewal agenda of the ANC. Already they are playing their hand by attacking institutions of democracy, starting with the IEC.
“Secondly, at every given opportunity they threaten peace and stability in the country if things do not go their way.
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“They agitated their supporters even before elections that if they don’t get two-thirds majority they won’t accept results against all scientific surveys. Clearly, we are up against anarchy that must be confronted head-on by all South Africans.
Speaking to News24, Mabuyane said the ANC in the province trusted the party’s national executive committee (NEC) to handle coalition talks.
“We will wait for the NEC to guide us. As the party, we are in a revolution to unite South Africa into (a) non-racial and non-sexist country. We are not contesting state power for fun,” said Mabuyane.
Mabuyane added the ANC’s failure to get the majority votes needed an introspection and a strategic response.
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