President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his commitment to make the Government of National Unity (GNU) work, despite the internal disputes it continues to face, to address the pressing challenges facing the country.

Ramaphosa made the remarks on Thursday afternoon, in a parliamentary debate on the budget vote of the Presidency, which he tabled on Wednesday.

“The debate on the Presidency Budget Vote has been spirited, at times provocative, but above all, a credit to our democratic order. It is just over a year since the people of South Africa peacefully participated in elections that brought all of us to this Parliament to represent them.”

Ramaphosa said it is through debates that the voters who elected them to Parliament are able to measure whether they are up to the tasks they had given them. 

“They can measure whether we represent and articulate their aspirations and assess whether we are undertaking interventions that will improve their lives or not.”

“Even as these debates are robust and at times insulting, they are a key marker of the richness and endurance of our democracy,” Ramaphosa said.

This comes after MK Party deputy president and MP John Hlophe launched a scathing attack on Ramaphosa in Parliament on Wednesday, calling him a “president broken beyond repair” and accusing him of hypocrisy over the Phala Phala scandal.

Hlophe criticised Ramaphosa’s anti-corruption stance, mentioning the theft of undeclared foreign currency from a couch on the president’s Phala Phala farm. 

“You hide dollars like a hustler stashing stolen goods under a mattress,” Hlophe said, speaking directly to Ramaphosa across the chamber.

However, the MK Party rejected the budget outright.

“Today, we stand here not to decorate this chamber with empty words, but to deliver a clear message of defiance and truth,” said Hlophe. 

“We stand in absolute rejection of the vote on the Presidency and the National Assembly budget. This is because we refuse to fund lies, hypocrisy, and a failed dream.

Ramaphosa, however, acknowledged that addressing the country’s pressing challenges would require more efforts.

He expressed his commitment to making the GNU work to address the challenges facing the country. South Africa is facing a high unemployment rate, poor service delivery, water shortage, constant power outages, rampant crime and corruption, and deteriorating infrastructure, among others.

The GNU recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

This is despite the internal tensions and disagreements the GNU has endured over the last year.

”It has been just over a year since the establishment of the second Government of National Unity in our country’s democratic history.”

Ramaphosa admitted that the GNU still faced internal disputes.

“The GNU, made up of 10 political parties with different histories and experiences, has continued to hold even as it has weathered many storms.

“There have indeed been disagreements and disputes among the GNU partners. And yet, despite our differences, as GNU partners, we have chosen to work for the common good.”

The GNU, which was formed after the African National Congress (ANC) failed to secure a majority in the May 2024 general elections – for the first time since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

The coalition government at the national level, saw the ANC joining forces with its former political rivals, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus.

The GNU, which recently marked its first anniversary, has faced turbulence. 

Coalition partners, especially the ANC and DA, have frequently clashed over policy and legislation. 

The DA has taken the Expropriation Without Compensation Act and the Employment Equity Amendment Act to court, opposing ANC-led initiatives. 

In April, the party successfully challenged the passing of a fiscal framework in Parliament, which had been pushed through with support from non-GNU parties such as ActionSA and Build One South Africa.

The DA, the second-largest member of the GNU, has also failed in efforts to block the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and the National Health Insurance Act.

Despite the disputes Ramaphosa added, “It is as a Government of National Unity that we will continue in our mission to drive rapid, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, to create a more just society by tackling poverty and the high cost of living, building state capacity, strengthening law enforcement agencies, and deepening social cohesion and nation-building.”

Ramaphosa said there people, including in those Parliament, who will assert that democracy does not put food on the table, that the constitution cannot be worn, driven or lived in. 

“Yet they lose sight of a fundamental reality; that in the context of democratic backsliding across the world, South Africa stands tall as a country that upholds, protects and advances the rights of its citizens.”

Ramaphosa said so, referring to the remarks made by Hlophe on Wednesday, saying that he gave a laundry list of everything that is wrong in the country. 

“We are alive to the many challenges we face. At the same time, we should not lose sight of the fact that this democracy, only 31 years old, has made great progress in improving the quality of life of its citizens. “

“Some countries in the world have democracies dating back hundreds, even thousands of years. 

Ramaphosa argued that the country’s democracy, by comparison, is “still very young.”

“Those who decry the allegedly scant progress we have made wish us to discount the millions of homes electrified, the clean water in communities where there was once none, the public housing built for the indigent, and the free basic services provided to society’s most vulnerable.”

“They wish us to discount the more than 600,000 learners who passed their matric exams last year, the highest recorded pass rate in our country’s democratic history. 

Ramaphosa added, “They wish us to not consider the more than 1.2 million young South Africans who are being supported to further their studies by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.”

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

IOL Politics

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