CAPE TOWN – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) say the Government of National Unity (GNU) has been a partnership of convenience and has failed, as the multi-party coalition enters a year since its establishment.
This weekend marks a year since the GNU’s statement of intent was signed by 10 parties to form the new government arrangement.
While some consider the last 12 months year as being relatively stable, parties like the EFF are not happy with its performance, citing poor economic growth, growing unemployment and the delays in passing the recent budget.
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The GNU was formed in June last year after the May general election could not find a clear majority winner.
The GNU, while still intact, has seen clashes over government policies like BBBEE and the Expropriation Act and the parties have still found no consensus with legal challenges before the courts.
The EFF, which is not part of the GNU, said that the coalition of unlikely partners had been nothing but a series of failures.
Spokesperson Sinawo Thambo: “Unemployment has increased, economic growth has stagnated – just now in the first quarter of 2025, the economy grew by 0.1% – there was a loss of 291,000 jobs and crimes statistics are continuously going up. So, there’s nothing that has improved under the GNU government.”
He said that the recently passed budget, which was delayed by months due to disagreements over a value-added tax (VAT) and fuel levy increase, illustrated that it was nothing but a “government of convenience”.
“And the EFF is vindicated for that, and hopefully the people of South Africa will remember.”
