By Ebi Kesiena
President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that his party, African National Congress, ANC, will not get into coalitions for the sake of sharing the spoils of political office.
The NEC met at the weekend, where it adopted a framework on coalitions.
Ramaphosa said on Monday, after the NEC ended its four-day meeting, that they were concerned about instability at local government level.
He also noted that the NEC agreed that a framework was needed to stop the chaos in municipalities, which affected service delivery, adding that the ANC must not go into coalitions at all costs.
If they need to go into opposition, the ANC must be able to do it and be effective in benches.
The ANC was, however, not working on a plan for coalitions next year.
It was working on securing victory, he said.
Opposition parties have been saying the ANC will go below 50%, but Ramaphosa said they would work to get an outright majority in the national and provincial polls.
“The ANC cannot participate in a coalition which is simply about the sharing of the spoils of office.
“Where we have performed badly in elections as the ANC we should be principled enough to go into opposition to build anew rather than be part of a coalition government that undermines the foundational principles and values of both the ANC and the Constitution of the Republic,” he said.
The ANC has now adopted the framework of managing coalitions to avoid the chaos and instability that has left many municipalities dysfunctional.
Ramaphosa however, added that the framework is intended to create the level of stability in all municipalities across the country.
