ANC partners say no to alliance with ‘racist’ DA

The ANC will have a tough time persuading its alliance partners to get into a pact  with the DA following the party’s disastrous performance in this week’s  elections.

In provinces such as the Eastern Cape, the ANC’s alliance partners, Cosatu and the SACP, confirmed that they met to discuss the matter yesterday.

Their counterparts in the North West and Free State  dismissed the discussion as a contentious matter best left to national leaders.

Cosatu secretary general Solly Phetoe told Sunday World the federation is vehemently opposed to such a move.

“The DA is still racist and petty, and it is not different from the National Party. If the ANC is going to engage with the DA regarding coalition, as Cosatu, we are not going to agree to such.”

He said the DA marched to Cosatu House after Worker’s Day to demand that the minimum wage should be scrapped.

“We are not going to agree with the ANC to have a coalition with the party that has pronounced against the rights of the workers,” Phetoe argued.

Phetoe said DA leader John Steenhuisen is racist.

“We can engage other parties led by African black people; not the racist DA. I am not apologetic about that,”  he said.

SACP Western Cape provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu said they would reject the move.


Ngqentsu said the DA’s election manifesto, among other things, commits to eliminating the national minimum wage, cutting the Unemployment Insurance Fund by 1.5%, weakening the power of trade unions, and halting the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme, all of which will erode the hard-won rights of the workers.

“Collectively, the ANC, SACP, Cosatu, and the broader mass democratic movement must go to the drawing board.”

SACP KZN provincial secretary Themba Mthembu argued the ANC should rather be on the opposition benches than enter into a pact with the DA.

“We cannot be so desperate to become part of the government. If it means we are on the opposition benches, that should be the option. But we can’t be in alliance with the DA,” he said.

Edwin Mkhize, Cosatu secretary, also bemoaned any talk of the ANC getting into bed with the blue party.  “It will be an assault on workers, and at no point will we support the move. The DA has a history of disrespecting workers’ rights.”

Cosatu’s Western Cape provincial secretary Malvern De Bruyn said it would not be ideal to have the DA as a partner.

“If you look at the national policy of the DA, they support a government that is killing innocent children in Palestine. I hope the ANC at the national level will look at other alternatives because there will be endless fights if they choose to partner with them,” he said.

Eastern Cape SACP provincial secretary Xolile Nqatha said they were in a meeting to discuss the matter yesterday and couldn’t comment further.

“Let’s talk when there is a clear picture after these deliberations,” said Nqatha.

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