The ANC Veterans League has expressed concerns on whether engagement with the MKP and the EFF on the forming of a government of national unity (GNU) is worthwhile and will bear any fruits.
It said these two parties do not meet the criteria that the ANC has set out as it negotiates with the parties to form GNU.
The league has spoken saying the parties going into this government must have shared common values. It said there are bare minimum values that the ANC and the other parties must share.
Speaking in a television interview, leader of the Veterans League Snuki Zikalala said they are in support of the decision of the ANC to propose the GNU, a decision that was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week.
Zikalala said they regret that the ANC has lost its majority, adding that the ANC had been blind-sided by the impact of the MKP.
“At the same time our people of South Africa have spoken against the failures of the ANC to address basic issues of service delivery and corruption. We fully support the GNU, we fully support the programme that was spelled out by the president.
“We hope that the parties will come together and the president made it clear that there are bare minimums that all the parties must look at.
“We must have shared common values, values like stability, accountability, ethics, integrity, good governance and of course, constitutional democracy is sacrosanct and cannot be discussed or debated and the question of the rule of law in the country. Those are the bare minimum that we are saying on those issues we will not compromise,” he said.
Speaking on whether there are any parties that the league believed the ANC should keep clear from, he said it would be the MKP and the EFF.
“… MKP because they are saying they do not recognise the Constitution, they are unreliable, some of them are using state capture money, but the ANC NEC said let's approach them, let’s talk to them.
Zikalala continued, “We agree with the NEC but we know very well that we will not reach any conclusion with the MK Party, they don’t have a constitution, they do not haste structure and they do not abide by constitutional values so we know they don’t meet the criteria that we have made.
“The same thing with EFF. On the EFF we said as the Veterans League that we know that on the EFF in the municipalities that we are co-governing with them, they have abused the MMC positions that we have given them, we are not going to compromise on the constitutional values, the rule of law-which they don’t believe in. We are sceptical of the MK Party and of the EFF,” he said.
The Mercury