With the ANC growing increasingly frustrated as it struggles to get hold of former President Jacob Zuma to discuss a possible coalition government with his uMkhonto Wesizwe party, his daughter is leading a protest to the ANC NEC meeting held at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg where she and a dozen or so demonstrators are demanding that the the DA be excluded from the proposed government of national unity following last week’s electoral stalemate.
Thuthukile Zuma who is a member of the ANC’s Johannesburg Regional Executive Committee said the group took it upon themselves to come and sound alarm about the risk of association with the Democratic Alliance.
She said the protest was also triggered by what the group believes to be a “ campaign” by business and liberal media to blackmail the ANC into partnering with the DA.
“Over the past five days there’s been a sustained campaign by the markets, by rating agencies, by media for inclusion of the inclusion of the DA in the coalition of the ANC,” said Zuma.
Thuthukile is the daughter former President Jacob Zuma and outgoing minister in presidency responsible for women, children and people living with disabilities Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
She was previously linked with MK but came out to publicly declare herself a committed member of the ANC and dispelled any notions of association with MK.
“We don’t agree that a party like the Democratic Alliance which stand so averse to transformation in this country, a party that thinks its normal to burn the South African flag, a party that is against all our policies that seek to transform this country should be part of the government of national unity,” she said.
Thuthukile was reluctant to speak when asked about her father’s MK party merely saying the ANC needed to work with progressive parties that have similar objectives.
“Our political convictions are not informed by any markets, our political convictions are informed by the ANC, the liberation movement that seeks to unite and liberate our people, the national democratic society that we seek to unite and liberate our people and that cannot include the DA. Secretary General Fikile Mbalula dismissed the protest as premature arguing that this week’s reports of President Cyril Ramaphosa having struck a deal with the DA.
“The protest is unfortunate and misplaced. We are talking to everyone including small parties because we don’t have outright majority and even in there ( NEC meeting )we are not fooling ourselves into believing we that we are all the same. We are not limiting ourselves to one option”, said Mbalula adding that President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to announce the party’s decision in his closing address to the NEC meeting.
On Wednesday the South African Communist Party and trade union federation Cosatu said ANC needed to form a government with like minded parties and certainly not the DA.
“We are rejecting any possibilities for the ANC to work with the DA and it’s associated organisations. These are capitalists organisations that are largely responsible for the worsening living conditions of the people in our country because they control capital, they control resources, they control everything, they control money than even government has and they’re responsible for the inequality that we currently have in the country,” said SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila. While keen on working with the ANC the DA is indeed demanding the scrapping of among others Black Economic Empowerment, Affirmative Action, minimum wage and other policies meant to facilitate redress. The second biggest party also wants the ANC to not include the EFF and MK alleging the two would wreck havoc through some of their socialist policies.