Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, as president of the ANC, has thrown his party’s weight behind the Government of National Unity (GNU), but warned his GNU colleagues to stick to its transformation agenda.
This includes broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) and the highly controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, both of which are facing opposition within the GNU.
Delivering the closing address of the ANC’s fifth National General Council (NGC), Ramaphosa reaffirmed the ANC’s commitment to the GNU, but specifically an ANC-led arrangement that put its “progressive policies” at the forefront.
He reiterated the previous stance of the ANC that the GNU isn’t the party’s first choice—it aims for majority control—but rather a “tactical intervention”.
Ramaphosa stated that the ANC’s participation in the GNU does not alter its broader long-term strategy of transformation or its implementation of policies.
The NGC has been mandated to “strengthen the ANC’s capacity to drive progressive policies in the GNU”, he said.
The ANC’s National Executive Council (NEC) has been mandated to monitor and assess the performance of the GNU and “make the necessary interventions” to ensure that the GNU serves the interests of the people of South Africa.
Despite the growing opposition to BEE and the ANC’s employment equity targets and NHI, Ramaphosa has fully backed the policies.
The NGC specifically reiterated the ANC’s position on broad-based black economic empowerment, with Ramaphosa stating “that we cannot retreat on that”.
He said the GNU must be mandated to ensure that BEE entities and companies that have been previously excluded from playing a key role in the economy are strengthened.
“We should enable them to participate in local content development, and also we must give them more support in the reindustrialisation of our economy in the manufacturing sector, as well as in other areas like the steel and other sectors,” he said.
On the NHI, the president said that the pursuit of universal health coverage is a “key aspiration of the Freedom Charter”.
As a result, the NGC agreed that the movement “must proceed with the implementation of the NHI”.
“We must strengthen all aspects of our health system towards the achievement of affordable, equal quality health for our people,” he said.
Warning to the GNU
GNU party leaders, with the exception of the Patriotic Alliance’s Gayton McKenzie. Photo: GCIS
The president said that the NGC had observed that certain parties within the GNU were trying to “undermine” ANC policies and were pushing back against them.
They should not be allowed to succeed, he said.
“The NGC correctly noted that some parties that have been using the GNU to try to undermine the transformation of our country as mandated by our constitution, the supreme court of our land,” he said.
“They should not succeed in stopping the transformation process.”
While not explicitly named by Ramaphosa, his address clearly referenced the Democratic Alliance and other smaller parties within the GNU that are actively challenging ANC-led policies, such as BEE and the NHI.
The DA has launched court action against both the NHI and the ANC’s Employment Equity targets, presenting its own policies as alternatives.
Notably, the DA has not shied away from challenging the government it is a part of in court to force the ANC to change its positions.
This was seen most clearly when the party took the ANC-led VAT hike to court during the extended budget saga.
Despite receiving majority support with the help of external parties, such as BOSA and Action SA, to pass a 0.5 percentage point VAT hike in the budget, the DA and the EFF’s court challenges led to this being reversed.
This has underlined that the ANC no longer has the majority mandate to govern, and its policies are not sacrosanct or unstoppable.
Despite these very apparent policy divides within the GNU, it has not ruptured and collapsed.
With the NGC continuing to support the broad coalition, this bodes well for the stability of the grouping as it enters what will be a tense political year ahead, with the 2026 municipal elections on the horizon.
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