Senior ANC leader Dr Zweli Mkhize Mkhize said the DA paid lip service to the Constitution while aggressively fighting against its cornerstones – equality, redress and dignity. Picture: Nqobile Mbonambi/Independent Newspapers
There is a groundswell of opposition to the ANC and the DA forming a coalition government to lead the country following the hung national general elections last month.
Senior ANC leader Dr Zweli Mkhize is the latest to raise concerns about the possible partnership.
Other leaders such as Mathews Phosa and ANC alliance partners the SACP and trade union giant Numsa as well as federation Cosatu have also raised concerns.
Mkhize’s comment came as the ANC’s national executive committee met on Thursday to discuss coalitions while disgruntled ANC members staged a picket outside the venue to object against a possible coalition with the DA.
In an opinion piece, Mkhize said a coalition must enjoy broad confidence.
“The cardinal principle in forming a coalition government is to ensure that such a government enjoys the confidence of the broader voter population because its formation is guided by voter sentiments, not by narrow considerations,” Mkhize said.
“The DA has opposed many policies to strengthen transformation, such as rebuilding of state-owned enterprises and improving their efficiency to support the developmental agenda. The DA favours the wholesale auctioning of these national assets to the private sector and further opposes policies aimed to ensure equality, such as National Health Insurance.”
He said the DA paid lip service to the Constitution while aggressively fighting against its cornerstones – equality, redress and dignity.
A coalition with the DA, Mkhize said, would not be in the interest of the country or the objective to realise all elements of the Constitution.
Cosatu said that if the ANC partnered with the DA to form a coalition government it would be a betrayal of workers’ struggles.
The SACP said that it was also opposed to a coalition with the DA while Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the ANC was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“The conservative media, investors and the business community, are pressurising it to go into a coalition with the
DA. The ANC-DA coalition is preferred by the ‘markets’. If the ANC chooses the DA as a coalition partner this will be the final betrayal of the working class,” Jim said.
While the other parties look to engage in coalition talks, the MK Party has been silent in KwaZulu-Natal where it received the most support.
MK Party members who spoke on condition of anonymity said the sentiment in the party was that it would not take part in any talks about coalition governments until the issue of voting irregularities had been resolved.
The party said that it was going to the Electoral Court over the alleged irregularities after they were “dismissed by the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)”.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told members of the media on Thursday that it had been difficult to engage with the MK Party on coalition talks.
“We tried to reach out and we drew a blank. It’s very difficult to talk to the people there because when you talk to them they tell you they are still waiting for ‘ubaba’ (Zuma). And ‘ubaba’ is very difficult to get hold of.”
The MK Party could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Political analyst Makhosini Mgitywa said the formation of a coalition without the MK Party in KZN would be seen as undermining the will of the public in the province.
“The people of KZN’s government must be led by the party they voted for the most. We must also see what kind of animal MK is as a government. I don’t think it would be smart of the ANC and IFP to be seen to be usurping MK’s position,“ Mgitywa said.
The Mercury