ANC will talk, but not to MKP
Durban — As political parties in KwaZulu-Natal gear up for horse trading, the ANC says it would be impossible to go into a coalition government with the Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which it accused of disrespecting institutions of government.
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ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele told the Sunday Tribune at the provincial results centre in Durban on Saturday that there was no love lost between them and the MKP.
“We are not going to talk with anyone who wants to disrespect institutions of government, unfortunately. We’d rather be in an opposition bench than be part of that.
“Before we went into the elections, people of Umkhonto weSizwe were already saying that the elections were going to be rigged,” Mndebele said.
He was referring to an incident that happened in Durban where people believed to be MKP members held IEC officials who were transporting ballot papers hostage as they accused them of rigging the elections.
“They said the ANC will rig the elections, [but] we demonstrated to the country that we are willing to accept the will of the people.
“But now they are surprisingly saying ‘no it was the DA who rigged the elections’ and they are already disputing the entire results,” he said.
Mndebele said the ANC national executive committee would meet on Sunday (today) to discuss coalition talks with its counterparts.
Mndebele said it was clear that the MKP was not the party to sit down and talk with “because foremost in our minds is to respect the people, respect the institutions of government”.
“If MK wants to form a coalition with the ANC, there are things that they must do better, but for now I can tell you, they are not doing things in an expectable manner, in a standard required,” said Mndebele.
However, he said the ANC would be in discussion with any party, including the DA and IFP, who adhered to its standards.
“What we need to do now as the leadership moving forward is to ensure that we respond to the needs of the people and the demands of our people and that is what we are committing ourselves to.
“There is a high possibility for the ANC to form part of a ruling coalition because we have heard the message from the voters and that requires us now to then discuss with other political parties,” said Mndebele.
Mndebele said people did not come out in large numbers to vote for the ANC so the province would be hung.
He said voters voted in protest against the lack of service delivery.
“There is no one who has won the elections in KwaZulu-Natal but what the ANC accepts is the fact that there is a protest, there is a lot of dissatisfaction among our people,” he said.
He said the outcome of the elections “shocked us” and that the ANC accepted the outcome of the elections.
He expressed confidence that the majority of people in the province still loved the ANC, but they used their vote to express dissatisfaction.
“People are saying ‘guys, there have been allegations of corruption. We have heard your message of renewal but we have not seen tougher actions, tougher action must be done’.
“People are saying we have seen our country being transformed in the past 30 years but there has now been complacency and lack of services, for example, people in our strong base such as Umlazi did not have water and they had the right to protest,” he said.
The MKP spokesperson, Ndaba Gcwabaza, said although the MKP was yet to meet and decide on which party it would consider for the coalition, the party was looking at partnering with black parties.
“There are enough black organisations that we think we can talk to and agree with.
“We are not angry with the ANC at all, we just want to pursue what the MKP wants to do guided by the mandate that we got from the people,” said Gcwabaza.
A political analyst from the University of Western Cape, Bheki Mngomezulu, cautioned the MKP about being vindictive against the ANC.
“If it becomes vindictive then the change will get worse and if it becomes embracing and reconciliatory then the change will be for the best,” he said.
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