EFF ‘never made any elite demand’ – Shivambu on GNU talks with ANC  

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu says the party has never made any unreasonable demands to the African National Congress (ANC) in Government of National Unity (GNU) discussions.

Shivambu’s remarks come as the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA) have been deadlocked in negotiations over cabinet positions.

In a tweet on Thursday, Shivambu said, unlike the DA the EFF had negotiated with the ANC on matters of principle.

Criticism of DA-ANC relations

“We led an EFF delegation to meet with the ANC on 2 occasions, we spoke on principles, never made any elite demand (not even on National Treasury),” Shivambu said.

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According to Shivambu, a false narrative has been created that the EFF was playing hard to get in joining the GNU.

 “The meetings were broken and a false report tabled to the ANC collective that the EFF is making unreasonable demands to participate in the ‘GNU’,” Shivambu.

He accused the ANC of getting into an exclusive arrangement with the DA.

“What is evident thus with the “GNU” far is that the ANC has resolved and committed to work with the DA only,” he said.

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The EFF has been critical of working relations between the ANC and the DA.

However, the EFF has also been accused of having past working relations with the DA in 2016. The DA had been seen by the EFF and its allies as being “counter-revolutionary.”

 “That’s why the DA is emboldened to make unreasonable, irrational and disrespectful demands, which will shift the control of the economy totally to architects, beneficiaries of apartheid and colonialism,” he said.

Despite the EFF’s latest stance on the negotiations, the party had initially made several demands in a press conference at the Results Operations Centre in Midrand.

Some of these included, that Die Stem be removed from the national anthem, Nkululeko Dunga be reinstated as Finance MMC in Ekurhuleni, the party had also set its sights on the Ministry of Finance.