Deputy President Paul Mashatile said Wednesday’s inaugural meeting of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Clearing House Mechanism got off to a positive start.

Mashatile, in his capacity as Leader of Government Business in Parliament, convened the meeting which was attended by Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Maropene Ramakgopa; African National Congress Chief Whip Mdumiseni Ntuli; Democratic Alliance MP and Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson; Inkatha Freedom Party MP and Deputy Minister of Transport Mkhuleko Hlengwa; GOOD Party MP Brett Herron; Pan Africanist Congress MP Apa Pooe; Freedom Front Plus MP Corne Mulder; Patriotic Alliance MP Kenny Kunene; Al Jama-Ah’s Kabelo Gwamanda; and Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana.

United Democratic Movement MP and Deputy Minister of Defence Bantu Holomisa was absent from the meeting.

The GNU Clearing House Mechanism was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month for the purposes of resolving policy disagreements within the 10-member GNU.

The Office of the Deputy President will serve as the Secretariat of the GNU Clearing House Mechanism.

Mashatile said next week’s GNU Clearing House Mechanism meeting, in Parliament, will finalise the draft Terms of Reference and receive reports on policy challenges, such as the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill.

“…specifically on the two clauses that the President has asked that they form part of the engagement with relevant parties,” he explained.

Despite some public rejection, and concern over the BELA Bill’s constitutionality, Ramaphosa in September signed the Bill into law, although he did place on hold clauses 4 and 5 of the Bill for three months to find solutions to the concerns around them.

Should no solutions be found, the Bill will be implemented fully, he said.

The GNU Clearing House meeting will also receive reports on the preparations for a National Dialogue, and South Africa’s presidency of the G20 meeting to be hosted in the country next year.

Mashatile pointed out that the meeting would also deal with challenges at provincial and local government level, and said it was appreciated that contradictions were inevitable in coalition governments and that learning from countries who had such coalitions was the best mechanism to employ towards achieving the goals set out in the Statement of Intent.