For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines: ActionSA leaves Multi-Party Charter; ANC meets to decide on preferred partners to govern; And, SACP against ANC coalition with DA, MK Party

ActionSA leaves Multi-Party Charter

ActionSA announced today that it is officially out of the Multi-Party Charter, citing a “serious breach” by other political parties who it said publicly signed and campaigned under an agreement that expressly ruled out working relationships with the African National Congress.

Following the May 29 national and provincial elections, the ANC lost its majority in Parliament. It received only 40.18% of the national vote while also losing its provincial majority in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Northern Cape.

The ANC has begun coalition engagements with other political parties, including the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party, both of which are part of the MPC.

Updating the media on the outcomes of a two-day ActionSA Senate meeting, party spokesperson Michael Beaumont highlighted that it had assessed a potential Parliament in which the opposition formed a coalition with the ANC and had determined that ActionSA was going to have to be the unofficial opposition in Parliament.

He noted that it was similarly resolved that ActionSA would continue to honour its commitment to be an alternative to the ANC.

ANC meets to decide on preferred partners to govern

African National Congress leaders held talks today to try to agree on potential partners to form a new South African government after the party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the democratic era.

The former liberation movement has run South Africa since it swept to power with Nelson Mandela at the helm in the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid, but was punished for its chequered record in last week's election.

While still the largest party, the ANC can no longer govern alone and signalled yesterday it would seek to form a government of national unity with a wide range of parties.

The electoral maths has created a complex situation for the ANC, which will have 159 of the 400 seats in the new National Assembly.

Its nearest rivals are the pro-business, Democratic Alliance, with 87 seats, the populist uMkhonto we Sizwe Party led by former president Jacob Zuma, with 58, and the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters with 39.

And, SACP against ANC coalition with DA, MK Party

The South African Communist Party said it is against the African National Congress seeking a coalition arrangement with the Democratic Alliance and the uMkhonto we Sizwe Party, citing apartheid oppression and State capture corruption, respectively.

The SACP highlighted that to maintain strategic consistency, it is against seeking a coalition arrangement with what it calls the “right-wing, DA-led anti-ANC neo-liberal forces”.

It also explained that it was against seeking a coalition arrangement with the MK Party, whose origins, it said, can be traced back to “factionalism, the corruption of State capture and resistance to accountability”, as outlined in the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture report and Constitutional Court judgments.

It pointed out that the industrial-scale looting under State capture crippled many of the country’s State-owned companies, public entities and financial resources, which the SACP said negatively impacted the capacity of the State to serve the people.

The ANC’s alliance partner noted that the “factional conduct” and “ethnic nationalism” of those driving the MK Party had negatively impacted the ANC-led movement, and the ANC’s electoral performance.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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