Cape Town - The ANC and DA are the first to pledge voluntary co-operation with the Government of National Unity (GNU) through the signing of a Statement of Intent, which outlines certain agreements between signatories.

The document, which has been signed by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille, aims to foster trust between the electorate and the parties that will make up the GNU, including the IFP.

The document states: “The parties agree that when committees of Parliament are constituted, the spirit of a Parliament of National Unity shall be implemented to enable parties that are part of the GNU to be accorded leadership positions in some committees”.

The document also lays out the need to deal with poverty, spatial inequalities, food security, and improving basic services. Some of the key priorities of the statement include:

• Rapid, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, the promotion of fixed capital investment and industrialisation, job creation, transformation, livelihood support, land reform, infrastructure development, structural reforms and transformational change, fiscal sustainability, and the sustainable use of our national resources and endowments.

• Building state capacity and creating a professional, merit-based, corruption-free, and developmental public service. Restructuring and improving state-owned entities to meet national development goals.

• Strengthening law enforcement agencies to address crime, corruption, and gender-based violence, as well as strengthening national security capabilities.

Dr Sam Webber, political analyst and lecturer at Nelson Mandela University, said the document is a broad framework that still needed to be fine tuned.

He said it is not clear yet how the parties will deal with land reform and cadre deployment, among others.

“I believe that all these parties have deployment practices in one way or another. At the heart of this lies the bloated presidency that has been beefed-up by the president in the name of efficiency.

“A debate on how ministries will be staffed also needs to be debated. The statement of intent does not say anything about roping in the parties that are not in the fold of the GNU, which is constituted by 60% of the parties in Parliament; ignoring the other 40% will be a recipe for disaster,” said Webber.

“Dismantling the existing culture in organisational structures may derail the process of creating an effective and efficient governance GNU structure unless the president is prepared for a long fight with all the stakeholders, including unions and business.

“It is not going to be easy to adopt the business transformation agenda of economic growth, among others, because of union activism,” Webber added.

zolani.sinxo@inl.co.za

Cape Argus