Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi. Photo: The Citizen/Nigel Sibanda
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi is expected to announce members of the Executive Council (MECs) for the 7th Administration on Wednesday night.
On Monday night, Lesufi’s announcement of his executive cabinet was abruptly halted amid claims from both the African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) of the other negotiating in bad faith.
The squabble for MEC positions has seen Lesufi postponing his cabinet announcement twice in the last two weeks.
On Tuesday during a media briefing, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille claimed the ANC conceded that they had intended to allocate three seats to the DA, and seven to the ANC out of a cabinet of 11 (including the ANC premier).
With the two parties not reaching an agreement in Gauteng, Lesufi said there will be a cabinet announcement on Wednesday night. This indicates that the ANC may be forming a minority government.
“Every time we negotiate with certain political parties, the emphasis is that they want to get rid of the ANC and our posture was to defend the African National Congress. So, we don’t want to enter that particular space where insults are exchanged.
“We want to establish a government of provincial unity (GPU) that will serve the citizens of Gauteng, and I can assure you with what our national leadership is going to finalise, we are going to announce a cabinet that represents the citizens of Gauteng. We going to announce the cabinet his evening definitely and this time there won’t be a postponement,” Lesufi said.
ALSO READ: ‘The ANC hasn’t really understood it lost power’ − Zille
Lesufi said they are willing to work with all political parties.
“What we are going to do and we’ve done it. All the political parties that are part of the Gauteng Legislature, all of them have agreed with us including the DA. There’s no single political party that says they don’t want to work with us.”
Lesufi said he postponed the announcement of his cabinet twice at the guidance and leadership of the ANC because the DA had gone back on its word and wanted something different.
The DA said it is not in agreement with the ANC in Gauteng. This could be an indication that the party may not be part of the government of provincial unity, but occupy the opposition benches in the Gauteng legislature.
On Monday, former DA MP Douglas Gibson claimed Lesufi had “forgotten” that he was only elected as premier of Gauteng because the DA had voted for him.
ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Lesufi in denial that voters rejected him and ANC’ – DA
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
