GNU talks were on a knife-edge — Alan Winde on how Floyd Shivambu ‘saved South Africa’

13 Aug 2024

Describing the formation of the new government, Alan Winde, Western Cape premier and a member of the Democratic Alliance’s negotiating team in the post-election period, said the EFF and MK party were inadvertently forcing the GNU to work.

Alan Winde, one of the Democratic Alliance (DA) negotiators for the Government of National Unity (GNU), has repeated DA Federal Council Chairperson Helen Zille’s claim that EFF Deputy President Floyd Shivambu “saved South Africa” when he called for a caucus break during the first sitting of the new National Assembly, which allowed the DA and the African National Congress (ANC) to sign a coalition agreement.

Winde, who in June was sworn in as Western Cape premier for a second term, addressed the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday about the GNU and coalitions.

He said he was asked by DA leader John Steenhuisen to be part of the coalition negotiations alongside party veterans including Zille and Siviwe Gwarube, who is now the basic education minister.

“When I got the phone call, I packed a bag and I said, ‘I’m coming to Joburg, we’re going to set the scene. I’ll be there for two days and then I’ll come back.’ Well, 10 days later, I was still there.

“I only had to come back because we had a little swearing-in ceremony in the provincial Parliament and I couldn’t get out of that,” said Winde, referring to the first sitting of the provincial legislature.

Read more: Alan Winde cements second term as Western Cape Premier, saying ‘I don’t take this lightly’

Winde shared details of the first sitting of the new National Assembly on Friday, 14 June 2024 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), which was held to elect a Speaker, Deputy Speaker and President.

A race against time

He said the Statement of Intent which led to the formation of the GNU hadn’t been signed by that Friday morning.

“But the most interesting thing for me is that the agreement wasn’t signed when all of the members were in the CTICC.

“I’ve saved my WhatsApps from that night before from our group of negotiators because there was a document at about two o’clock in the morning. There was another document at about three o’clock in the morning.

“At about four o’clock in the morning, we thought we had the final document that went off to be signed.

“And at about seven o’clock in the morning, there was a different document on the table.”

Later that day, the “parliamentary sitting had started and the members were being sworn in one by one, [which] took a long time”.

Read more: Catch up on all the nominations, votes and elections during the National Assembly’s first sitting

“But it was getting closer and closer to the time where these new members were going to have to vote… John [Steenhuisen] said on the WhatsApp group, ‘Well, that’s it. If it’s not signed, it’s very easy — we’re going into opposition.’

“And as that message hit, Floyd Shivambu asked the judge for a break and I don’t know if Floyd knows this, but he saved South Africa.”

The break, said Winde, gave Steenhuisen, Zille and ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula a chance to sign the documents needed to form the coalition.

However, writing on X, Shivambu dismissed Zille’s claims that his request for a break allowed the DA and ANC to reach an agreement and elect Cyril Ramaphosa as President.

“The ANC/DA had already signed into the coalition and implemented in KZN and Gauteng. We knew far much earlier [sic] that the ANC is collaborating with enemy forces and our articulations were clear that we will reject the so called [sic] GNU,” said Shivambu, who called Zille an “opportunist and liar”.

GNU or coalition?

Winde said it was a “good idea” to get agreements in place before the election of the President.

“And luckily we got the documents and I’m pretty certain that that document is going to be drawn on a few times over the next years.”

Winde said the EFF and uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) were change agents that “our country needs because basically what they’re doing is they’re forcing the GNU to work”.

He said the new government was “a coalition and not actually a GNU”.

“I know why it’s still the GNU because it makes it a lot easier for the ANC to understand that they’ve only got 40% and not … 62% as Madiba had when he invited other parties into the Government of National Unity as a gesture to build our great country.”

The ANC has been adamant that it’s part of a GNU that is open to discussions with all parties rather than a grand coalition with its long-time rival the DA.

Zille has also described the formation as a “coalition” rather than a GNU, reported EWN. Zille said within the DA, they called it a hybrid model. DM

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South Africa

A race against time

GNU or coalition?