DRIVING CHANGE FROM WITHIN
GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY – AL JAMA-AH has joined the ‘new configuration’ in a bid to weaken the DA and its allies:
Al Jama-ah says it is important to note that there was external interference in South Africa’s elections which had a negative impact on the statistical results. Among those that gained from these developments were the DA and its moonshot pact parties.
Since the results of the election were recorded and analysed, Al Jama-ah never expressed a positive view about the GNU when it included the DA. The party took a firm stand not to share or support the idea of having the DA in government; the party regularly stated that while it had a soft spot for the ANC despite its shortcomings, it could not see itself siding with white rulers who are discriminatory in outlook and who support genocide in Palestine.
The ANC, meanwhile, chose not to reach out to like-minded parties – despite differing on minor matters – and instead approached the DA to consider creating a GNU. This worked in the favour of the DA who preferred to be an equal stakeholder in this configuration as it suited its cunning leadership. This GNU model only included parties that worked with the DA and who benefited largely from Zionist funding.
Al Jama-ah observed that this model excluded other parties opposed to the DA. “Al Jama-ah was not considered for this model, but it would never have joined this obnoxious group who supports Zionism and their refusal to admit that Palestinians are being massacred daily.
Amidst these developments, some of the smaller parties such as the PAC and bigger parties such as the EFF, held caucuses to discuss how they could be considered as an alternative grouping with which the ANC could partner to form a GNU.
The group formed the Progressive Caucus supported by Al Jama-ah. Whilst the ANC and DA were discussing their grand coalition partnership, the ANC cleverly revised a Statement of Intention (SoI); it was constructed to invite other partners and not only the DA and its moonshot pact partners. We understand that the purpose of the SoI was to lure in smaller parties to add to the ANC’s numbers to place it in a better position to challenge the DA and its ilk,” explains Hon Ganief Hendricks.
The party admits that the SoI might have been reworked from a position of weakness rather than one of strength, but it nonetheless attracted parties outside the DA’s circle. “One of Al Jama-ah’s reasons for joining is that this new configuration would contribute to weakening the DA’s influence and powers. This new configuration allows smaller parties to boost the ANC’s bargaining abilities; thus, not only weakening the DA and its allies’, but with the hope to sideline them or throwing them off board,” Hendricks explains.
Al Jama-ah’s decision to join the GNU is based on viewing the ANC’s SoI through a different lens; the re-crafted SoI differs from that the ANC had in mind with the DA and this reconfiguration does not imply being ‘in bed’ with the DA as claimed by many.
The party says joining the ‘Liberation Movement’ GNU model was based on factoring in these important elements:
(a) it waters down the DA’s political powers,
(b) it marginalizes DA’s influence in all spheres of government,
(c) its critical foreign policy against the Zionist state continues; and
(d) its legal quest to charge the Zionist state’s political leader for ‘crimes against humanity’ remains on the cards.
On the basis of the above and our aformentioned 7 points, the party believes it is taking a worthy risk that will, hopefully, ensure that there are positive returns for our communities across the country. It cannot afford to lose the gains that it has made in both the rural and the metropolitan areas. It has proven to be a noteworthy contributor towards change and thus argue that it can continue with these within the revised GNU setting.
Al Jama-ah is a Political Party, which was founded on Islamic ethos, and it continues to serve as ‘a platform for all communities.’ At present, it is a political party that is leading the socio-political discourses in the re-establishment of a self-determined Government of Local Unity; one that was unfolding in the City of Johannesburg since February 2023.
It is the party’s view that the GNU’s Political Steering Committee (PSC) is the ultimate battlefield to not only fight for the preservation of our communities’ liberty from the Zionist DA and its support for minority (white) rule, but also to endeavour to push them out of the GNU structures completely because they are only holding onto their 20% and not more.
After a meeting with a delegation from the ANC’s NEC and the leader of our party as well as the Gauteng Provincial Chairperson along with the National Head of Strategy the following points were recorded:
Al Jama-ah’s initial position was the outright rejection of the GNU; this position was declared to be exactly that at the end of the mentioned meeting.
The party subsequently undertook robust engagements and debates within its NWC along with its set of counsellors considering the implications of a perplexed and cornered ANC that was at the mercy of an opportunistic DA.
It is, therefore, against this backdrop that party undertook to test the legitimacy of the process by entering the GNU; this was with complete aggression and tactical battle formation. The party is further cognisant of the fact that its mere rejection and condemnation of the DA’s participation in forming the government of the day without meaningful action will not assist in averting the inevitable.
It will not backbench while the gains of our country’s democracy are at risk of being reversed; factoring in these, the party opts to step-in, if only to protect the fundamentals of the liberation struggle and aspirations of all freedom-loving South Africans. The party plans to participate because it carries a responsible mandate of its voters, and it will not allow anything to be done for our communities without our participation.
In addition and as a token of our efforts and commitment to corrective measures, it plans to have further discussions with political parties in the Progressive Caucus to enter the GNU; this is as a means to create a government that is self-determined to dismantle the DA sponsored narrative of political expediency and the malicious aspersions of its ‘grand coalition’ model that it had put forward and tried to enforce.
“Al Jama-ah reiterates that there will be no three-state solution in the Republic of South Africa! Our beloved country will not be broken down in the lifetime of our parties and communities. South Africa will remain an apartheid free zone and our foreign policy will remain intact and progressive; it will not be dissuaded from taking up the concerns of the oppressed communities in other parts of the world,“ Hendricks emphasised.