Ramaphosa insists Government of National Unity will succeed

Cyril Ramaphosa has insisted that the Government of National Unity (GNU) is determined to succeed, despite ideological differences amongst the parties.

Ramaphosa was delivering his reply, on Monday, to the debate on the Opening of Parliament Address (OPA).

“We are now a Government of National Unity, formed in the cause of rebuilding our nation. We are committed to putting our differences aside and working together for the common good.”

The GNU has been heavily criticized by opposition parties, with Dr John Hlophe calling the seventh administration “a cruel joke by a faction of the ANC”. The MK Party caucus leader added that it is impossible to have a Government of National Unity in a divided and unequal society.

Meanwhile, ATM president said: “This grand coalition has nothing to offer the people. It is a partnership of hypocrites who once were opposed to a bloated cabinet while occupying the opposition benches, but now that they are driven in blue lights, having one of the biggest cabinets in our history is no longer an issue.”

Despite the criticism, Ramaphosa said his administration will succeed even though others don’t wish them well.

“As Minister [Pieter] Groenewald has said, we have before us an opportunity to restore and build. So let us use this opportunity. In the challenging and difficult times, we live; this unity will be our comfort, the unity that we are forging our courage, and it will be our greatest strength,” said the President.

He maintained that although South Africa faces a myriad of challenges and obstacles, the country is not in a hopeless situation.

“We are very much alive to the challenges we still face as a country. And yet we must remind ourselves that South Africa is not in the hopeless situation that some in the opposition benches want us to believe and have sought to loudly assert with sound and fury during this debate.”

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