African National Congress (ANC) has reached a “breakthrough” agreement with several other political parties for the formation of a government of national unity (GNU), ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula announced on Thursday.
Addressing journalists at the end of a special meeting of ANC’s national executive committee in Cape Town, Mbalula said the party has over the past two weeks engaged with a number of political parties and “we have reached a breakthrough on the common agreement that we need to work together.”
“We have agreed that, as political parties, we need to gravitate towards the centre, except a few, who did not expressly support the GNU,” Mbalula said late Thursday.
He, however, refused to disclose finer details of the agreement.
The ANC, which has been in power since independence in 1994, failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote in elections held last month, forcing it to seek a coalition to form the next government.
It announced last week that it was targeting creating a GNU in the interest of ensuring political stability and the revival of South Africa’s faltering economy.
The parties have until Sunday to come up with a coalition agreement, wccoridng to South Africa’s constitution.
The inaugural sitting of parliament is set for Friday during which a President and National Assembly Speaker would be elected.
JN/APA