Solly Msimanga (Images of Gallo)
- DA polls show party supporters have no problem regarding coalition talks with the ANC.
- According to Solly Msimanga, it shows that the talks must be accompanied by clear governance guidelines.
- The DA has criticized the ANC’s policies and governance record.
DA supporters have encouraged the party to enter into coalition talks with the ANC.
This was according to DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga, who said party polls showed his supporters were not against holding talks with the ANC.
But, Msimanga added, supporters also demanded strict terms for such talks, which should be based on good governance terms outlined in a clear coalition engagement document.
Msimanga said the party had to prepare for the likelihood of coalition talks in 2024 and should consider who it could engage with.
msimanga said:
In the last poll we did, most people said that you can engage with the ANC, but there have to be conditions in terms of good governance and cleaning up corruption. And making sure to finish with the display of paintings. They are very clear that it is not a blank check. This is where you put the parameters if you start interacting.
He spoke at News24’s Frontline webinar on Friday.
Msimanga said the DA could not single out all the political parties in the coalition talks, except for the EFF, which he said the DA held opposing political views.
“I’ll talk to anyone who makes sure we have clean governance, clean, corruption-free, well-oiled machinery in government. When a leader says, ‘we want to kill a particular race,’ while you know that particular race Race represents a large part of your electorate, how do you formalize peace with that?” he said.
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Msimanga qualified the survey data, saying that the DA leadership, or even its conference, would first have to reflect on the suggestion and find a method of engagement.
He said it would not be up to any one person to decide whether the party would work with the ANC.
The DA has opposed ANC policies and criticized the party for its stance on cadre deployment, broad-based black economic empowerment and land redistribution.
“The decision to enter talks with the ANC would be something that the party would have to participate in at the federal level. This is not a decision that Helen Zille (federal chairperson of the DA) would make on her own, but something that the party would have to participate in. “Msimanga said.
ActionSA national chairman Michael Beaumont, in response to Msimanga, said flirting with the ANC was a hypocritical stance.
Beaumont, who was also part of the Frontline discussion, said it was unjustifiable to work with the same political party that had created the conditions the DA actively campaigned against.
“The biggest problem that we have right now is that political parties silence the idea of entering into coalitions with a political party that they have campaigned against, which is a huge contradiction,” Beaumont said.
