Deputy President Paul Mashatile said on Monday that while the African National Congress (ANC) believes the first 100 days of the Government of National Unity (GNU) have been successful, it cautioned that the GNU cannot survive with parties making “unreasonable demands”.

Mashatile said the ANC was happy about the success of the GNU government thus far, noting that since its formation, there was a stable and working government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to reflect on the first 100 days of the seventh administration, on Monday evening.

Mashatile highlighted that there were those who thought that the new government, consisting of 11 political parties, would have squabbles and quarrels.

“…but in fact, the truth is that all the parties are working well together. We see ourselves as one team. When we are in Cabinet and we are doing our work, we do not say this one is from the ANC, this one is from Patriotic Alliance or the Democratic Alliance (DA), we just say we are a GNU team,” he said.

All Ministers are accountable to the President, he said, and only the President can appoint and give tasks to Ministers.

Mashatile stated that the GNU was a government at work, and that he believed it would last until its term finished, citing the Statement of Intent, which all parties signed.

“We are planning to work together for the next coming years until we end the term successfully,” he said. 

Mashatile said any challenges along the way would be dealt with.

“Some of you might know that three weeks ago the leaders of the GNU met, and they agreed that we must have a structure [clearing house], which will be chaired by myself that will look at any issues that need to be attended to,” he said.

The first meeting of the clearing house, which seeks to resolve disputes within the GNU, will be held on Thursday in Cape Town, where Mashatile is expected to meet with all GNU party leaders.

He denied any allegations of tensions within the multi-party government.

“Helen Zille and Panyaza Lesufi, I think they will be able to resolve their issues, as far as I am concerned. We said to the government in Gauteng led by the ANC, if the DA does not want to work with you in Gauteng, leave them behind. It is not your problem, and they must not make it our problem nationally, because we are working with them nationally,” he said.

This was in reference to the recent ousting of DA mayor Cilliers Brink in Tshwane and allegations made by the DA that Lesufi had been fuelling tensions in the GNU.

Lesufi said it was up to the DA to ensure that it worked well with ANC structures in provinces and added that the ANC wanted the DA to work with its structures.

“Our structures in Gauteng came to us to say the DA is making impossible demands and therefore we cannot proceed, and we said leave them [DA] behind. If they are not reasonable, go without them,” he said.

He pointed out that this did not mean the ANC did not want to work with the DA.