ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that a government of national unity (GNU) was the best tactical option for the ANC to take the country forward after the party lost its outright majority during the May 29 general elections.
Ramaphosa was providing his political overview at the beginning of the partys three-day national executive committee (NEC) lekgotla in Johannesburg on Sunday. The lekgotla took place after a three-day meeting of the NEC.
In attendance at the lekgotla was the leadership of the SACP, an ANC alliance partner which has previously slammed the partys decision to include the DA and the Freedom Front Plus in the GNU, and preferred a minority government with forces such as the EFF.
Ramaphosa acknowledged the role played by the SACP in the struggle against apartheid, including the leading role it played in advancing the principle of nonracialism in theory and practice as the first political organisation to organise on a nonracial basis in South Africa.
He said the lekgotla was being held in the aftermath of an election outcome that has produced a seismic shift in politics where, for the first time in 30 years, the ANC lost its mandate to govern alone at a national level and its share of the vote fell below 50% in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Northern Cape.
