ANC faces tough coalition talks after election setback

The ANC’s national leadership will meet this week to determine its approach to coalition negotiations after the party’s worst electoral performance yet, as political formations begin positioning themselves to govern hundreds of hung municipal councils across South Africa.

The party’s national working committee (NWC) is scheduled to meet on Monday, followed by a national executive committee (NEC) meeting on Thursday, where its coalition task team is expected to present various options for adoption ahead of formal negotiations.

Nationally, the ANC garnered 30.7% of the votes, with the DA, MK Party and EFF following with 24.24%, 9.76%, and 6.22% of the vote, respectively. Only Cape Town will be governed with an outright majority after the DA received 56.42% of the vote. The other metros ― Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City and eThekwini ― will be governed through coalitions.

“Greater choice and competition is a sign of a strong democracy … to have our election declared free and fair is an incredible achievement,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday. “All who seek public office must be judged by one standard: whether they put public services first.”

The ANC’s internal meetings will be among the first major tests of how it intends to exercise its diminished electoral mandate, with the party facing the prospect of negotiating its way into administrations in municipalities it previously governed outright.

Meanwhile, the DA’s coalition discussions will be co-ordinated nationally under the federal executive’s authority to ensure a consistent, principled approach countrywide, the party’s federal council chair, Ashor Sarupen, said.

“The DA’s federal executive has mandated the party to initiate discussions with political parties that share a commitment to clean and accountable government, rooting out corruption, service delivery for all, the rule of law and nonracialism.”

SACP leader Solly Mapaila told Business Day the party would invite the ANC, EFF, MK and other parties “of the left” to discuss possible coalition partnerships across the 138 hung municipalities.

The negotiations will take place against a 14-day deadline for the new municipal councils to be finalised after the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s declaration of the final results. In the first council meetings councillors will elect mayors, speakers and other officebearers, pressuring parties to reach agreements quickly.

The ANC has already begun preliminary engagements with potential coalition partners, including ActionSA, with discussions so far limited to what the parties are prepared to bring to the negotiating table rather than specific municipal agreements.

The ANC’s national leadership is expected to play a central role in determining which partnerships it pursues, amid indications that provincial and regional structures will have limited autonomy in striking agreements.

Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the NEC would determine the party’s approach to coalitions, while ruling out any rush to secure positions at the expense of its political principles.

The ANC has also indicated that it is prepared to sit in opposition where the terms of a coalition agreement do not meet its requirements.

“The ANC will not be in a hurry to get into coalitions. That is not the only option. There is also an option to sit in opposition,” Mbalula said.

The position comes as the party confronts differing political calculations in key provinces and metros, particularly Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, where the election results have altered the balance of power.

In Johannesburg, where the DA emerged ahead of the ANC, the regional party leadership has had to contend with the prospect of losing control of the municipality. The ANC’s Johannesburg structures have indicated a willingness to occupy the opposition benches rather than enter an arrangement that does not serve their interests.

In KwaZulu-Natal the ANC’s provincial leadership has moved to centralise control of coalition negotiations, instructing regional structures not to initiate discussions or enter into agreements with other political parties without prior authorisation.

In a directive dated November 6, provincial co-ordinator James Nxumalo told all regional co-ordinators that the coalition process remained the sole responsibility of the provincial structure and would be guided by a clear provincial mandate.

“No region is authorised to make commitments, enter into agreements or represent the organisation in any coalition engagement without an explicit mandate from the province,” the letter says.

The directive also cautions regional structures against drawing conclusions about potential coalition arrangements, stating that the election results had not yet been formally declared at the time it was issued.

The intervention comes as the MK Party emerged as the leading political formation in KwaZulu-Natal and indicated a preference for working with the ANC, raising the prospect of an alliance between the two parties in municipalities where neither can govern alone.

The directive in effect places the responsibility for determining the ANC’s negotiating position in the province with its provincial leadership while preventing regional structures from pursuing separate arrangements with prospective coalition partners.

Business Day