The ANC has denied claims by DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille that her party was approached by big business to prop up and defend President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The allegation by Zille essentially means the state has potentially been captured by capital through Ramaphosa and the ANC through Secretary General Fikile Mbalula dismissed the claim saying it was wishful thinking by Zille.
Mbalula briefed the media at the ANC Luthuli House headquarters in Johannesburg.
“The African National Congress categorically rejects the baseless claims by Helen Zille regarding their alleged role in shaping the Government of National Unity. We view these claims as not only false but deliberately misleading aiming to distort historical facts and elevate her importance on national matters where they lack any foundational relevance,” said Mbalula.
Mbalula who has had to call weekly media conferences just to rebut Zille’s claims since the formation of the GNU, accused the DA leader of among others interfering in internal ANC affairs and of discrediting Ramaphosa in a bid to gain popularity.
“Zille’s repeated urge to interfere in the internal affairs of the ANC and her ongoing attacks on President Cyril Ramaphosa exposes a shameless bid for power and influence, one she has neither earned nor will attain through such reckless posturing. We see through these calculated attempts to undermine the ANC’s leadership. It is clear that Zille and her party seek only to weaken the ANC from within hoping to gain what they cannot secure from the ballot box. This is not genuine criticism but rather a desperate grasp at relevance by a party failing to appeal to the vast majority of South Africans,” he said.
Zille’s allegations on the back of insistence by SACP General Secretary Solly Mapaila that the ANC had a pre-election deal with the DA brokered largely by Ramaphosa.
Mbalula said the ANC is scheduled to meet with the SACP, an ally of the liberation movement in the Tripartite Alliance which includes trade union federation Cosatu.
Once again the Secretary General has had to rebut another sensational claim by Zille that the GNU is only called that because during secret negotiations with Ramaphosa he requested that it be referred to as such in order to hoodwink his ANC colleagues into believing he had formed a multiparty coalition and just with the DA.