ANC determined to work with DA in GNU despite unhappy NEC members

Acting ANC spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi has reacted to leaked messages of discontent by some high-ranking ANC members over the inclusion of the DA in the government of national unity (GNU), saying these do not constitute ANC national executive committee (NEC) discussion or policy position.

Godlimpi's response follows a series of leaked WhatsApp messages captured in the ANC's NEC group that showed a heated exchange.

In the leaked messages, NEC member Andile Lungisa was butting heads with some of his colleagues over a coalition with the DA.

The leak came after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet on Sunday which includes DA, IFP, FF Plus, UDM, PA, GOOD and PAC members.

In the messages Lungisa criticised the ANC leadership over their partnership with the DA, but newly appointed minister of defence and military veterans Angie Motshekga told him the GNU decision was the ANC's final decision.

“We said yes to GNU inclusive of everyone including the DA and everybody else willing to work with the ANC,” she said. 

Lungisa responded, saying: “We said no to the DA, we know the history of our movement including the character of our movement. Please in your hallucinations don't ever include some of us to anything that has to do with the DA.

“We never joined the liberation struggle or the movement late in our lives. Comrades must be sensitive to the history of our struggle please. Celebrate the DA without including our names on it.” 

Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi did not take kindly to Lungisa's response.

“No, cadre Andile, this is wrong. Honestly, you can't disrespect anyone like this, especially fellow NEC member. You can have your dissenting views and that we have always respected, but also show the same respect to others. You have no monopoly of being correct and upright,” she said.

Former minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma weighed in, indicating the agreement was not unanimous. “Not all of us said yes to the DA,” she remarked.

Godlimpi told TimesLIVE the WhatsApp leaks were not a reflection of the NEC's stance on the GNU makeup. “The ANC NEC, in its meeting of June 6, collectively adopted the strategy of a GNU. President Ramaphosa addressed the nation on this position the same day,” he said.

“The ANC is not collaborating with any one party but co-operates with all those who have signed the statement of intent to form a GNU. This broad co-operation is reflected in the composition of the national executive as announced by President Ramaphosa on Sunday. Anything else is false and there is no such disagreement within the ANC.

“As for the purported leaks, we cannot account for them.”

Some ANC leaders have attempted to push back against a partnership with the DA. As soon as it emerged the ANC would lose its electoral majority, talks between the ANC and DA began to take shape.

Lungisa's stance against the DA is not new. In a tweet posted in November 2021, he said: “Some of us we will never work with the DA. It seems there are people who do not know some of us.” 

Lungisa is no stranger to controversy. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in September 2020 for the assault of DA councillor Rano Kayser after he smashed a glass water jug over Kayser's head during a heated council meeting in 2016 in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Just 75 days after surrendering himself to the North End Prison, the correctional services department announced Lungisa's release on parole. Lungisa's sentence was reduced by 12 months after Ramaphosa granted him special remission in 2019.

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