MKP leader Jacob Zuma. Picture: Timothy Bernard Independent Newspapers
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) says the so-called government of national unity (GNU) is about President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Democratic Alliance.
MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told The Star on Sunday that the party had not watered down its conditions of not engaging with the “ANC of Ramaphosa”.
This was despite the party meeting with an ANC delegation on Friday to craft a way forward on how to form coalition government.
“We are engaging with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa. We have said countless times that we are not going to engage the ANC of Ramaphosa.
“The GNU is about a Ramaphosa-DA alliance, not the ANC. We are engaging with the ANC, but I can tell you we are not engaging with the ANC of Ramaphosa,” Ndhlele said.
He said the MKP would never form part of the proposed GNU.
The MKP’s pronouncement comes days after the EFF announced they would not be forming part of the GNU, saying they were not willing to sit across from “land thieves” who benefited from the apartheid system.
This comes against the backdrop of the MKP’s intensive search for suitable partners to govern in KwaZulu-Natal. The party garnered 45% of the votes in the province, pushing out the ANC from the number one spot. The party fell short of just five percent of the vote to gain a majority in the province.
MKP leader Jacob Zuma has previously said his party will not work with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
However, in a turn of events, the party engaged in negotiations with the ANC, which it said was not the “ANC of Ramaphosa”.
Last week on Thursday, the ANC announced it would invite all parties to participate in a GNU, after a special NEC meeting held at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni on the same day.
The ANC is understood to have held marathon meetings with several parties, including the DA and PA, on Friday, to present the offer and the modalities it would entail.
It is understood the MK’s delegation included former police minister Nathi Nhleko, who served during former president Zuma’s time in office.
As a police minister then, he reported on the Nkandla upgrades report, telling Parliament that research by his department concluded that a pool at Zuma’s home costing more than R3 million was a fire pool and not a swimming pool.
The Constitutional Court found the government irregularly used public funds to upgrade Zuma’s home.
The Star
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