South Africa - Cape Town - 14 June 2024. Mmusi Maimane leader of Build One South Africa (BOSA). Photographer: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
Build One South Africa (BOSA) has distanced itself from commitment to support the ANC in the Gauteng legislature.
Party spokesperson, Graham Charters, told The Star on Monday that Bosa was not part of the Gauteng provincial government of unity (PNU).
Charters, however, said the party would vote with the ANC on issues that the party felt were in the best interest of South Africans.
He added that the reasons for the party snubbing the Gauteng PNU were the same as the reasons for its refusal to join the GNU at national level.
“Our reasons for declining to be part of the PNU are the same as that of GNU. It is inaccurate that we agreed to support them (in provincial discussions). We will vote on an issue by issue basis for the best interests of the 16 million people who cast their votes,” Charters explained.
BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane had previously asked the ANC to fine-tune its GNU Statement of Intent to give a clearer agenda and scope.
At the time, Maimane said his party had not opted in yet because the existing statement of intent fell short in some aspects.
“We believe inherently that we need a plan to foreground any government – that it cannot be the patronage of politicians, but rather the focus on policy that delivers for the people, the 60 million South Africans,” he explained.
He said BOSA had some non-negotiables on the table, including plans for reforming education, eradicating crime, zero tolerance of corruption, a mixed economy that creates jobs, as well as justice and redress.
Meanwhile, the EFF in the province revealed that it would vote with the newly-formed PNU if policies brought forward aligned with its ideological position.
The MK Party said it had not yet decided whether it would support the ANC-led government in the province.
Last Wednesday, Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced his cabinet which excluded the DA but included the IFP, PA and Rise Mzansi.
The IFP got 3.8% of the votes in Gauteng in the May elections, the PA 2%, and Rise Mzansi got 0.42%
The exclusion of the DA meant that the ANC led PNU would have to rely on the support of other parties in the legislature to pass muster for among others, the budget vote.
Out of the 80 seats in the legislature, the parties that constitute the PNU have 33.
This means to pass a budget, which requires 50+1, the PNU will require the support of other parties like the EFF and MK Party.
The EFF and the MK have total combined seats of 19, which combined with the 33 would give the seventh administration 52 seats in total.
The Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za
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