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Deputy President Paul Mashatile has today, 29 October 2025, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Government of National Unity (GNU) Clearing House Mechanism, convened a virtual meeting of the structure, that finally adopted its Terms of Reference.

In 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a GNU Clearing House Mechanism to resolve policy disagreements within the 10-member Government of National Unity (GNU), and delegated Deputy President Mashatile to lead the GNU Clearing House.

The GNU Clearing House Mechanism meeting today received a report from the Working Group that was mandated to review and finalise the draft Terms of Reference (ToR’s).

The draft ToR’s document was first presented in October 2024. Due to disagreements, the Secretariat engaged Professor Jaap de Visser for legal refinement, with  key disagreements centered around deadlock-breaking mechanisms and clauses from the GNU Statement of Intent (especially Clauses 18 and 19.3).

Subsequently, a Working Group was formed to resolve these issues, comprising representatives from the Democratic Alliance, Rise Mzansi, Pan Africanist Congress, and chaired by the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Andries Nel.

Submissions to the draft Terms of Reference were received from the GOOD Party, Al Jama-Ah, the Democratic Alliance (DA), and the United Democratic Movement (UDM).

The Working Group was given two weeks to finalise its work and report back to the GNU Clearing House Mechanism.  

The Working Group made the following proposals:

• Firstly, it developed a Dispute Resolution Process flow diagram that clarifies the decision-making process of the GNU Clearing House Mechanism;
• Secondly, it clarified that the Clearing House Mechanism is a recommending body, not a decision-making structure;
• Thirdly, it proposed monthly meetings;
• Fourthly, it proposed that unresolved issues be referred to the Political Leaders Forum, not the President; and
• Lastly, the Working Group supported a resolution to “agree to disagree” when consensus fails.

Having noted the above, the GNU Clearing House Mechanism agreed that the Statement of Intent is foundational to the work of the GNU Clearing House and equally agreed that sufficient consensus applies only to decision-making bodies (GNU and Political Leaders Forum), not the Clearing House. Lastly, it agreed on referral procedures and the non-inclusion of provincial/local government matters.

The GNU Clearing House Mechanism appreciated the work of the Working Group and the Secretariat and agreed that the adopted ToRs will be presented to the meeting of the Political Leader's Forum for ratification.

The GNU Clearing House Mechanism also agreed that future concerns should be addressed through amendments, as the adopted document is now a living document.

Issued by: GNU clearing house mechanism secretariat