Analyst says Zille wants to weaken the ‘ANC of Ramaphosa’

Independent Political Analyst, Goodenough Mashego, says Helen Zille’s goal is to weaken the ‘ANC of Ramaphosa’.

He says Zille is doing what she’s always wanted to do and that’s to become a kingmaker.

In a public engagement, Zille alleges that President Cyril Ramaphosa deceived his comrades, selling it as GNU while he knew that it was just a coalition between the two South African major parties.

Zille says a GNU brings all parties together which would have had to include the EFF and the MK party, which it did not.

She also reveals that one of the strongest levers that the DA had during the negotiations to govern was the value of the Rand.

Helen Zille (DA):

Cyril Ramaphosa came up with the government of national unity (GNU), to sell the coalition to the ANC

The truth is that the DA is in a coalition with the ANC. pic.twitter.com/rU5z2UZQsl

— Izwe Lethu (@LandNoli) August 1, 2024

Mashego says the ANC will have to deal with the fact that until the GNU collapses, the DA will continue to be an albatross around its neck.

“The ANC had 30 years to make itself popular, to make itself relevant and credible among the majority of South Africans, but it misappropriated that capital by corruption and maladministration.”

He says the claims made by the DA speak largely to the fact that the ANC cannot unhinge itself from the DA.

ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, has dismissed Zille’s claims as grandstanding.

He says they will not be engaged in polemics with Zille.

“Stop being irritated by Zille, every time she says she wants to see the ANC dead, that is her job and the DA, like others who want to see the ANC gone, say they eat the elephant piece by piece, but the elephant is still standing, and the ANC will go down if it entertains the irritation and doesn’t do what is right.”

While Zille said the GNU should include all political parties, including the EFF and MK Party, Mbalula reiterated that the opposition parties rejected the GNU statement of intent.

He says if Zille wants to leave the GNU – she can go.

[WATCH] Helen is the leader of the DA, and we cannot expect her to change overnight. She will continue to oppose progressive and transformative policies.

We don’t have a grand coalition that is called ANC-DA coalition. We have more than one political party that formed… pic.twitter.com/GA6g83nCWc

— ANC SECRETARY GENERAL | Fikile Mbalula (@MbalulaFikile) August 1, 2024

The EFF, who has been vocal in rejecting the GNU saying it seeks to reverse the gains of democracy, says it has been exonerated by Zille.

The party’s national spokesperson, Leigh-Anne Mathys, says the EFF has also been correct in asserting that the grand coalition was engineered by the white capitalist establishment through the manipulation of the Rand.

“This explains why the ANC refused to entertain any amendment to the foundational document, which the EFF said must include the Freedom Charter, Progressive Internationalism, and a commitment to redress our colonial and apartheid past,” says Mathys.

She adds that the latest utterances by Zille reveal that Ramaphosa is a collaborator with the white capitalist establishment and has no respect for his party and black people.

The EFF’s Statement on Helen Zille’s Confirmation That There is no Government of National Unity but a DA/ANC Alliance

-It is common knowledge that the foundational document which constituted the GNU was signed by Helen Zille and Fikile Mbalula to solidify the relationship and… pic.twitter.com/5L4B6DL0iP

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) August 1, 2024

Meanwhile, PA leader and Sport, Arts and Culture Minister, Gayton McKenzie, is confident that the GNU will last.

He labelled her remarks as a clear display of her inability to be part of anything where she doesn’t call the shots.

McKenzie adds that the DA needs the GNU more than the ANC does.