Maimane on BOSA joining GNU: ‘We won’t work with racist, divisive people’

JOHANNESBURG - Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane said his party will not join the Government of National Unity (GNU) unless parties he labels as racist or disrespectful to the Constitution are excluded.

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Maimane outlined several conditions that must be met before his party can participate in the national coalition.

This comes in response to the African National Congress (ANC)'s proposal to expand the GNU.

Maimane said the ANC has yet to approach his party for coalition discussions.

BOSA has stressed that effective opposition parties are vital in Parliament, and hastily joining the GNU could weaken the important role the opposition is meant to play.

Maimane said that when talks with the ANC begin, the party will present several conditions before accepting the invitation to join the GNU.

"In our engagement, we are going to engage on the basis of the following: that the composition cannot just bloat the Cabinet, which has already been the most bloated Cabinet we have seen in democratic history. Adding the MK Party and many others will simply complicate the issue. 

"We are non-negotiable on our values. We are not going to work with people who are racist and who want to divide this country. We won't work with people who are not going to uphold and defend our Constitution."

He said BOSA has no interest in entering into a toxic marriage.

"We are not people who simply go along, for getting along sake. South Africa is in crisis, so I’m not going to be invited into a fight between the ANC and the Democratic Alliance."

Other parties have expressed that expanding the GNU wouldn’t solve its structural and ideological challenges.