The Progressive Caucus, which is taking the fight to the ANC-DA-led government of national unity (GNU) grouping, decided to field a candidate for the positions of speaker, deputy speaker, and president to expose the ANC.
This is according to insiders in the caucus comprising the EFF, UDM, ATM, PAC, UAT and Al-Jamah, who spoke to the Sunday World on the sidelines of the first National Assembly sitting in Cape Town.
According to this group, which started by fielding EFF’s Veronica Mente to contest ANC’s Thoko Didiza for speaker, letting the NGU candidates emerge uncontested would continue to entrench the GNU narrative, which they believe should be exposed.
It is about politics
“It is not about winning; it is about politics. Remember, the voting is a secret ballot, which will expose that there is a coalition between the DA and the ANC when the numbers are tallied up,” said the leader.
“But secondly, it will expose that there are members of the ANC who are not in agreement with the ANC-DA coalition masked as GNU.”
Another Progressive Caucus mole said the vote for deputy speaker would be the most telling and expose the ANC for all to see.
This is because the candidate for the GNU for that position is a DA leader in the form of Annelie Lotriet.
We will field our candidates
“The opportunistic framing that it is a GNU will collapse there because the ANC MPs will vote for a DA candidate, and all will see that it is in fact a coalition between the ANC and the DA.
“We will field our candidates for all positions. We cannot rubber-stamp the plotting by the ANC and DA, because if we do not field an alternative candidate, we would have unwittingly cemented the wrong narrative that it is a NGU, which is far from the truth.”
The Progressive Caucus will field a candidate for the position of president as well to take on President Cyril Ramaphosa, the candidate for the NGU alliance.
Meanwhile, the DA has insisted that it will never stay in the NGU if the ANC is to turn around some day and welcome the EFF and MK Party into the NGU fold.
DA leader John Steenhuisen told the media at the Cape Town International Convention Centre that the party would rather be opposed to working in a government where the EFF and MK are involved.
