IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa said that political parties, committed to advancing the interests of the people, should be allowed to join the new Government of National Unity (GNU) led by the ANC.
Hlabisa’s views are in sharp contrast to those of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) federal chairperson, Helen Zille, that any party that wants to join the GNU can only do so with the approval of the pact partners.
Speaking to “The Mercury” on Thursday, Hlabisa called on parties that were part of the GNU to refrain from giving individual interpretations of the agreement that forms the basis of the pact.
He said the parties should instead meet in private, find the common meaning of the agreements, and interpretations and then speak in public with one voice.
The DA and the ANC have publicly clashed over some of the clauses that are contained in the Statement of Intent, the founding GNU agreement.
One of the matters they have clashed over is the consultation of the GNU members when new members join.
Clause 24 of the statement of intent states: “In keeping with the spirit of an inclusive GNU, it is agreed that the composition shall be discussed and agreed among the existing parties, whenever new parties desire to be part of the GNU.”
Zille had raised concerns that founding members of the GNU should be consulted if other parties wanted to join.
This after the Patriotic Alliance and the PAC indicated their intention to join.
The party implied that failure to consult was a violation of clause 24.
However, the ANC disputed this saying the correct interpretation of clause 24 was that there would be consultation of the members if another party was looking to join, after the processes to form government were completed.
ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli addressed the issue during a TV interview on Thursday morning.
He accused the DA of possibly deliberately misinterpreting the clause, adding that the party seemed to want to give an impression that it was leading the GNU. The ANC stressed that it was leading the GNU and was inviting parties that wanted to join to do so.
However, he conceded that it had not been spelt out in print that the “secondary meaning”, that there would be discussions over new parties joining, comes into effect after the government is formed, arguing the ANC believed during the negotiations that it was clear this was the case.
The IFP president said the party did not want to be drawn into public interpretations of the document.
“The IFP believes that in the formation of the GNU there was a team of negotiators that had negotiated this document. We believe that it should not be the case that each party goes out and gives its own interpretation of a document that was developed together.
“We believe that the team that had been part of the negotiations should sit together, discuss the interpretation and come out to the public with one interpretation of the document,” he said.
Hlabisa added that the IFP was not concerned that the public spat between the two parties could be a bad sign for the viability of the GNU in the long run. He said it was important to remember that this was essentially a coalition between parties and, as such, different views could be expected, especially at the beginning of the process. He said the important thing was to have a strong dispute resolution mechanism.
“The way forward is for the parties to talk, talk, and talk until they have found common ground. More parties should be joining as the voters have clearly indicated that they want parties to work together,” he said.
The Mercury