The Progressive Caucus has said the “so-called” Government of National Unity (GNU) was a design of white monopoly capital whose objective is to mask the class and race contradictions exposed by the 2024 electoral outcomes.
The caucus said this “coalition” sought to foreclose the possibility of the unity of all progressive forces to form a progressive government that would institute a meaningful transformation of the South African economy and society as a whole.
Speaking at the caucus media briefing, African Transformation Movement (ATM) leader Vuyo Zungula said the 2024 elections were a target of big capital and imperialist forces who sought to undermine the will of the people.
“They used money to propel liberal and neo-colonial political party outfits who united in the form of the Moonshot Coalition clearly setting themselves against liberation movement associated formations.
“Upon electoral defeat, the capitalist establishment realised the liberation movement forces constitute 70% majority. Instead of continuing with its Moonshot project which had instigated class divisions, it now advocated for the unity of all, in order to mask and contain the obvious explosion against its domination.
“This accounts for the birth of the GNU which does not represent the unity of the oppressed, but an empty elite coalition of predominantly liberal and neo-colonial parties,” said Zungula.
He said the main objective of the Progressive Caucus was to be the most effective opposition in Parliament that would strive to achieve equality, total decolonisation and economic freedom for all.
“We note that the 2024 national and provincial elections outcome resulted in the formation of a reactionary coalition government that seeks to preserve the current power of white monopoly capital in the economy, give advantage to white privilege, and undo the gains of the liberation movement.
“Thirty years into our so-called democracy, South Africa teeters on the edge of a reckoning. Economic power is still monopolised by the ruling elite, while the masses are suffocated by relentless socio-economic oppression: the vast majority landless, denied educational opportunities, and shackled by the chains of apartheid’s enduring legacy.”
During their media briefing held in Cape Town on Thursday, the caucus said it remained resolute in its mission to dismantle the status quo and blaze a revolutionary path toward true justice and equality.
“In this urgent and volatile landscape, the Progressive Caucus emerges, resolute in our mission to dismantle the status quo and blaze a revolutionary path toward true justice and equality,” it said.
The Progressive Caucus has 102 seats in the National Assembly, which includes uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party), EFF, the ATM, the National Coloured Congress (NCC) and the United Africans Transformation (UAT), which they said would oppose an “elite pact masquerading as national unity”.
In the seventh administration, the caucus committed to championing for the expropriation of land without compensation for equitable redistribution, nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy, in particular the banks and the mines, and to strengthen democracy by ensuring that the government and all captains of the ruling class are held accountable to achieve a corruption-free society.
Among other things, the caucus said it would not abandon its fight for decolonisation of legal and cultural apparatuses in society as a whole, with emphasis on an Afrocentric philosophy of law, for free quality education, health care, housing, water and sanitation and also fight for the industrial development of the African economy, attainment of peace and stability in all its nations.
The Star