‘We haven’t closed the door to the ANC’ – EFF’s Shivambu

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu says his party will field its own candidates to contest positions in parliament if coalition negotiations fail.

The EFF has rejected the Government of National Unity (GNU) proposed by African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa last week.

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According to Shivambu, this was due to the opposing ideologies of the political parties in the country.

“We do not want to form part of any government with representatives of the white colonial apartheid system,” Shivambu said in an interview with SABC’s Face The Nation on Tuesday evening.

Shivambu on GNU

The party has publicly rejected the GNU. It has also privately informed the ANC during their meeting.

“We told the ANC that the government of national unity does not make sense to say that all political parties that contested must form government together,” said Shivambu.

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“We said there has to be sound ideological principles and foundational values that define whoever is going to govern together. This so that you don’t spend a lot of time debating among each other as to what foreign policy position do you take, among others.

“We told them that despite the fact that we have substantial ideological differences with the ANC, there are at least some common features that define us, including confronting the injustices of the past.

“But we have political parties that do not believe in such ideologies. This is not a wise decision because we should have a clear agenda of what we want to achieve.”

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Although the two parties have not reached an agreement, the EFF has not closed the negotiation door on the ANC. It is still waiting for the party to present a “sound” plan that will benefit the people of South Africa, said Shivambu.

“We haven’t closed the door to the ANC, in fact, they’re supposed to come back to us. We have outlined our framework as to what the terms of engagement are.”

EFF’s non-negotiables

According to Shivambu, the non-negotiables include land expropriation and nationalisation of mines and banks.

Should the ANC fail to reach an agreement with the EFF, the latter will contest positions in parliament.

“If there is no sound agreement before Friday, we’re definitely going to field our candidates for all positions being contested.”

Shivambu said the EFF would also be engaging with other political parties, including the MK party, to attend Friday’s proceedings.

Ramaphosa: GNU ‘the best option’

Speaking after the ANC’s NEC meeting, Ramaphosa said forming a GNU was “the best option to move our country forward”.

“The GNU must tackle the pressing issues that South Africans want to be addressed,” said Ramaphosa.

“In establishing a GNU, we would be building on a rich history of cooperation across divides of politics and ideology.

ALSO READ: Choices for ANC: Top choice would be a government of national unity

“We believe that there is a need for a National Dialogue. This will bring together all parties to seek consensus on the actions required to take the country forward.”

The announcement has been welcomed by some, while others call for a Democratic Alliance-ANC-only coalition.

Al Jama-ah is another party that has rejected the GNU for the same reasons. ActionSA also rejected any negotiation with the ANC, resulting in the party exiting the Multi-Party Charter.

It said a coalition negotiation with the ANC was against the agreement of the Multi-Party Charter.