South Africa. DA MP calls on Ramaphosa to break away from ANC

DA MP Geordin Hill-Lewis has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to part with factions in the ANC that were opposed to policy and structural reform, and to instead assemble a progressive coalition to govern South Africa.

Hill-Lewis, in the parliamentary debate on Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address (SONA), said the president had made so many unwise concessions in his bid to keep the ruling party united behind him that he seemed like a leader in retreat.

Hence, he had b ecome known for promising far-reaching reforms, and did so again last week in his SONA, but these never materialised. “The president promises major reform, the treasury supports major reform, the official opposition supports major reform, the country wants major reform.

So here is the very curious thing: Where is the major reform? We have been promised it. But we do not have it,” he said. Hill-Lewis said the fault line of Ramaphosa’s presidency was his quest for consensus.

Yet there was wide consensus in the country as to which crises it faced and how these could be solved, but the agreement the president actually sought was within the divergent factions of the ruling party.

“The truth is, he means ‘ANC consensus’,” he said.

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