Mashatile draws on ANC founder and Tambo to defend GNU

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has defended the national government of national unity (GNU), citing one of the ANC’s founders Pixley ka Isaka Seme and former president Oliver Reginald Tambo.

Speaking at 30 years of democracy celebrations recently, Mashatile compared the coalition to historic efforts to achieve unity.

“The demon of racialism, the aberrations of the Xosa-Fingo feud, the animosity that exists between the Zulus and the Tongaas, between the Basutos and every other Native must be buried and forgotten; it has shed among us sufficient blood! We are one people. These divisions, these jealousies, are the cause of all our woes and all our backwardness and ignorance today,” Mashatile said quoting Pixley.

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“In the same vein allow me to paraphrase Former President Oliver Reginald Tambo who envisaged a society wherein; ‘We have a vision of South Africa in which black and white shall live and work together as equals in conditions of peace and prosperity’.

Freedom Charter and GNU

According to Mashatile, the GNU is led by the aspirations that underscore the Freedom Charter’s call for the people to govern.

“We are called upon to implement our commitment to the Freedom Charter which calls on us to build a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it. The Freedom Charter equally calls on us to fight side by side for the realisation of its ideals”.

Mashatile said the 2024 elections outcome presented “an opportunity to return to the task of building a South Africa that will no longer be defined by race, class, or gender. A South Africa where all have equal opportunities”.

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“We believe that developing a solid strategy for economic transformation should be at the centre of our dialogue, without pre-empting the task of collective agenda setting. Such an approach will have a positive effect on poverty, inequality, and unemployment levels,” Mashatile said.

He also highlighted the need for a national dialogue to tackle unresolved issues affecting South Africans, particularly the impoverished.

He also invited academic and research institutions to take the lead in providing solutions.