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'No' to meeting Raymond Zondo
10 Jun 2024 at 07:29hrs | Views
The EFF has poured cold water on the United Democratic Movement's (UDM) proposed meeting with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
Last week, the UDM leader General Bantu Holomisa wrote to Zondo asking him to convene a meeting with all 18 political parties that are represented in Parliament.
In the letter, the UDM leader said it was most important that all leaders of political parties represented in Parliament discuss the agenda of government, particularly as it pertained to the envisaged seventh administration.
Holomisa said based on the outcome of the election, the process of establishing a Government Of Unity (GNU) could not be left to one party to lead and convene, adding that the matter needed a collection of many stakeholders in collaboration.
"We believe that your esteemed office, as the custodian of the Constitution and the guardian of our democracy, is best placed to oversee such a crucial gathering," he explained.
However, EFF's deputy president Floyd Shivambu said politicians can't be addressed by the outgoing chief justice.
Shivambu vehemently opposed the idea characterising it as a "terrible idea" which would never take place.
"This one General Holomisa is a terrible idea and will never happen. We are not going to be presided over by Zondo.
"It'll never happen. Also there is no crisis in South African politics right now and there will not be. Leave Zondo to go home, he won't preside over us. Never!" emphatic EFF second in command said.
This year's groundbreaking national elections left many parties in limbo as they did not produce an outright majority.
This meant that parties needed to engage in coalition talks which would result in them co-governing.
The ANC has recently announced as the party with most votes that it would opt to go into a GNU with other political parties that were represented in Parliament.
Interestingly, the EFF's Carl Niehaus said the GNU could only be formed by a majority party (a party with 50+1), not by a minority party such as the ANC.
Niehaus said what the ANC was trying to do was to introduce an ANC/DA coalition through the back door.
"When, on the evening of the 2nd of May 1994, president Nelson Mandela delivered his victory speech to a cheering crowd in the Carlton Hotel's Grand Ballroom, announcing that he had won the election and would be South Africa's next president, he was unequivocally clear that the GNU was called by the ANC as the majority party.
"I know exactly what the situation was, and what he said. I was there, and as then national spokesperson of the ANC, I worked with him on that speech before he stepped to the podium to deliver it," he added.
Last week, the UDM leader General Bantu Holomisa wrote to Zondo asking him to convene a meeting with all 18 political parties that are represented in Parliament.
In the letter, the UDM leader said it was most important that all leaders of political parties represented in Parliament discuss the agenda of government, particularly as it pertained to the envisaged seventh administration.
Holomisa said based on the outcome of the election, the process of establishing a Government Of Unity (GNU) could not be left to one party to lead and convene, adding that the matter needed a collection of many stakeholders in collaboration.
"We believe that your esteemed office, as the custodian of the Constitution and the guardian of our democracy, is best placed to oversee such a crucial gathering," he explained.
However, EFF's deputy president Floyd Shivambu said politicians can't be addressed by the outgoing chief justice.
Shivambu vehemently opposed the idea characterising it as a "terrible idea" which would never take place.
"This one General Holomisa is a terrible idea and will never happen. We are not going to be presided over by Zondo.
This year's groundbreaking national elections left many parties in limbo as they did not produce an outright majority.
This meant that parties needed to engage in coalition talks which would result in them co-governing.
The ANC has recently announced as the party with most votes that it would opt to go into a GNU with other political parties that were represented in Parliament.
Interestingly, the EFF's Carl Niehaus said the GNU could only be formed by a majority party (a party with 50+1), not by a minority party such as the ANC.
Niehaus said what the ANC was trying to do was to introduce an ANC/DA coalition through the back door.
"When, on the evening of the 2nd of May 1994, president Nelson Mandela delivered his victory speech to a cheering crowd in the Carlton Hotel's Grand Ballroom, announcing that he had won the election and would be South Africa's next president, he was unequivocally clear that the GNU was called by the ANC as the majority party.
"I know exactly what the situation was, and what he said. I was there, and as then national spokesperson of the ANC, I worked with him on that speech before he stepped to the podium to deliver it," he added.
Source - The Star
