ANC Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane has come out in defense of the party forming a government of national unity that includes the DA.
Speaking at the party’s provincial executive committee lekgotla in East London on Sunday, Mabuyane said the ANC fell way below the 50% threshold and needed to form an alliance if it wanted to remain in government.
Following the May 29 general elections, the ANC dropped to 40.18%.
The 11 parties to the GNU include the ANC, DA, PA, IFP, GOOD, PAC, FF Plus, UDM, Al-Jama-ah, Rise Mzansi and the United Africans Transformation.
Mabuyane said the outcome of the elections resulted in a hung parliament and changed SA’s political landscape for the next five years.
“There is no scenario that is risk-free. The ANC got 40%. Let that be the starting point and so what were we supposed to do?
“People were approached and refused to join and now mobilising people saying we could have formed 70%.
“We’ve not been building houses in Nelson Mandela Bay for 10 years and returned nearly half a billion rand because of the nature of the government we have had in that region.
“We have 40%, we’re far from 50+1 and now we’re busy losing municipalities one by one.”
Mabuyane told delegates, which includes members of the national executive committee such as ANC treasurer-general Gwen Ramokgopa, not to concern themselves with the ongoing political bickering surrounding the GNU.
The ANC has been on a downward trend and small political parties are parasites, eating at the ANC
“I said it before, we’re in a season of coalitions, let’s not bicker about that.
“This net is too big for the ANC. More than 87% registered to vote and 57% [went] out to vote.
“The ANC has been on a downward trend and small political parties are parasites, eating at the ANC.
“The DA has a clear constituency that we’re finding hard to penetrate but it’s penetrating our constituents,” he said.
Mabuyane described the GNU as a masterstroke that gives ANC breathing space to go back to the drawing board and prepare for the 2026 local government elections.
During his speech, Mabuyane also touched on crime in the metro, saying the city was one of three crime hotspots in the province.
Mabuyane said police were doing their level best to arrest criminals but added they were left confused when the justice department released perpetrators on bail only for them to repeat the same crimes.
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