Johannesburg - ANC MP Dibolelo Mahlatsi has hit back at UDM leader Bantu Holomisa’s call for an “interim government”, saying the suggestion was laughable.
Yesterday, Holomisa called for the ruling party to relinquish power and an interim government to run the country until the 2024 general elections.
Mahlatsi has described the call as misinformed, misguided and opportunistic.
“Tragically, this past weekend, we woke up to misinformed, misguided and opportunistic calls by the erstwhile Bantustan Transkei leader Bantu Holomisa calling for an interim government. Laughable as this call was, it proved the rich isiXhosa saying that ‘uHolomisa uvukwe likakade’.”
Mahlatsi suggested that the UDM leader was catapulted into power through a coup and cannot work in a democratic system.
“His latest stunt of a coup via the back door calls of a so-called ‘interim government’ cannot be left unchallenged. Based on flimsy evidence and frivolous claims, Holomisa wants the judiciary, supported by the Constitutional Court, to take over government and establish what he terms ‘an interim government’.
“In a country where you have regular elections deemed free and fair by various bodies including the Independent Elections Commission, how can you arbitrarily call for such an establishment,” Mahlatsi said.
She continued to fire back at Holomisa’s call and said it’s dangerous for an esteemed MP to lobby that the Constitutional Court becomes an active agent in staging illegitimate coups, thus undermining the Constitution and the will of the people of South Africa.
“Holomisa needs to be reminded that Article 130 of the African Union Constitutive Act stipulates that, ‘governments which shall come to power through unconstitutional means shall not be allowed to participate in the activities of the Union’.
“Perhaps Holomisa needs to be reminded that the public representatives who occupy the benches in the National Assembly, that he also occupies, are legitimate members of that august House.”
Mahlatsi said as the country’s democracy is now maturing, Holomisa should not go back to the old days of autocratic rule.
Political Bureau