Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has committed to accommodate EFF, MK Party, in their programmes.
Lesufi said this after the EFF and MK Party supported all the provincial budgets last week.
However, the Gauteng premier said there was no agreement between parties that they would work together moving forward.
“There will be areas where they will feel we need to accommodate their programmes. We have given each political party the chance to make a contribution to our plans, so we don’t close any political party that has a certain programme,” he said.
Gauteng ANC forged ahead to form a minority government, after the DA ditched them in the last hour.
With the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) being in the minority, it needs the support of four political parties that were not part of GPU, which were EFF, MK Party, ActionSA, and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
Lesufi still extended his invitation to the four parties, saying that even there were no longer executive council positions, he was willing to accommodate them.
His proposal also included the DA, the premier said.
However, Lesufi expressed his disappointment in the DA for snubbing all the departmental budgets, which they voted against.
He said the party did this, despite the DA’s national leadership agreeing to the policies tabled and agreed by the national DA structure.
“These policies are from the national lekgotla that was attended by the DA leadership and out of that lekgotla all these resolutions were adopted unanimously. You come here and oppose what your national leadership has adopted at a national level, that’s the rubber-doll moment,” Lesufi said.
The move did not come as a surprise as the party had indicated that it would be voting against all of the departmental budgets, claiming that they represented failed policies of the previous administration.
At the same time, Lesufi was criticised for slashing the Community Safety Department’s budget by over R300 million.
The move left members of the legislature questioning his ability to fight crime.
Lesufi presented the department’s R2.3 billion budget before the Gauteng Legislature last week Tuesday, promising to continue his fight against high levels of crime in the province.
The Star
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