The ANC North West delegation at the ongoing ANC national general council (NGC) in Boksburg, Gauteng lobbied in commissions on Tuesday for the review of the decision to form the GNU in its current form.
The ANC cadres from the platinum rich province contend that the Gauteng provincial government of unity was working “extremely well without the DA” and that there is no reason to believe the same feat cannot be achieved at national government level.
This was revealed to the Sunday World by the provincial chairperson Nono Maloyi who was adamant that the absence of the DA in a government does not mean the sky will fall.
GP working well without DA
Maloyi, breaking rank from ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa and Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, who on Monday went to town justifying the GNU, said the NGC must discuss ways in which it could be reviewed.
And the North West delegation did not wax lyrical with Karl Marx political jargon on this matter. It simply pointed at the Gauteng provincial government, which they believe is working “extremely well without the DA”, so said Maloyi.
“The first issue we brought to the table is the GNU. We have a belief that we need to ensure that this GNU moves with the necessary speed. It need to be rejuvenated and respond to the needs of our people,” said Maloyi.
“Secondly, we need to broaden it. Bring other partners who understand where we need to take this country to. Not those with an agenda to push back. In Gauteng, the ANC got 34%. As we speak today, there is a government of provincial unity without the DA. And it is working extremely well. I am not taking you far. Just here in Gauteng we have a government of provincial unity that is working extremely well without the DA.”
The North West stance is interesting. More so compared to how Mbalula contextualised the decision of the ANC to come to the conclusion to have the GNU in its current form. And with what many deem as an abusive DA that sometimes acts like an opposition from within.
Shift in the political landscape
“This is not the first GNU in our democratic history. But it is the first to emerge under conditions where the ANC does not command a parliamentary majority. This shift in the political landscape has reshaped the terrain on which the National Democratic Revolution must unfold. The democratic state remains led by the ANC. But its ability to drive transformation now requires sustained negotiation, political discipline, and heightened ideological clarity,” said Mbalula during his detailed mdi-term organisational report.
“After weighing risks and opportunities, the NEC unanimously agreed that the country required a new type of GNU — with characteristics adapted to the 2024 context — to move South Africa forward. No alternative government arrangement would adequately unite society around a shared national agenda.”
Meanwhile, Maloyi also revealed that the North West also contributed immensely in the Commissions on another contentious matter of the SACP, which is at the doorstep of divorcing the ANC after resolving to contest elections independently from the former liberation party.
According to Maloyi, the SACP has committed a grave error that North West NGC delegation hopes and deposited this view, would change no later than January 2026.
SACP exit from alliance a concern
The insistence that the SACP top brass cannot reverse the decision, which was taken by a special congress in December 2024, he charged, is simply not true.
“We understand they say that it is their conference decision. But remember every leadership elected is tasked with taking decisions. And those decisions are informed by material conditions. A conference might take a decision but when you go out, you might realise that this decision is not implementable. And you need to twist it a bit to ensure it achieves what you wanted it to achieve,” said Maloyi.
“So, we hope that the party will come back and make sure we work together. To ensure we work together as this alliance. Since 1994 to date, we have contested elections together as alliance partners. And our lists contained all alliance partners. There was never an exclusion.
“When there are contradictions, you sit and resolve. And issues might take time to resolve. Material conditions must always dictate which solution, but at the back of the mind it must be about the people. Our comrades in the communist party need to understand these things.”
The NGC continues until Thursday. All decisions of the outcome of the assessment on the performance of the party’s national leadership elected in December 2022 will be revealed.
