MK party leader Jacob Zuma. Picture: Itumeleng English/Independent Newspaper
The ruling party, the ANC, has scored 40.18% at the polls, the lowest results in 30 years of democracy. The DA achieved 21.80%, while former president Jacob Zuma’s newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) scored 17.4%.
As early as Thursday morning, it was clear that the ANC would not meet the 50% threshold required for an outright majority.
As of Saturday, calls were mounting for black political parties to unite against the sixth Parliament’s official opposition, the DA. While discussions had been ongoing over the weekend that the DA and the ANC were set to have a “soft coalition”, the ANC’s rank and file have slammed any attempt towards a coalition.
The DA is said to want a partnership with the ANC excluding Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
Mashatile’s sympathisers in the ANC are said to be strongly against an ANC-DA coalition because it “infringes on Mashatile’s rights”.
In January, the DA challenged President Cyril Ramaphosa to “come out of hiding and take urgent action” over what the DA said were serious allegations of corruption and capture against Mashatile.
Cosatu general secretary Solly Phetoe told Independent Media that the union and alliance partner of the ANC was vehemently opposed to such a coalition.
“We all know that the DA is still racist and petty, not different from the National Party. If the ANC insists on meeting the DA regarding coalition, we are not going to agree with that,” Phetoe said.
Pro-Mashatile sources inside the ANC have labelled a coalition with the DA as “counter-revolutionary”.
“Our deputy president was elected by the 55th conference. We would need to explain to the party why he isn’t good enough to be deputy president following this election. The DA has fought vigorously against affirmative action and BEE. They have fought against the minimum wage agreement and the National Health Insurance. We cannot on one hand promise our people the NHI, while on the other hand we are in coalition with a party that detests the NHI. It is counter-revolutionary. The said coalition will split the ANC even further,” the source said.
Slamming the news of a coalition, ActionSA said the DA had long desired a coalition with the ANC.
“While the DA wishes to paint this decision as one necessitated by this election outcome, it must be clear that DA leaders have spoken in favour of a deal with the ANC consistently since 2019. ActionSA will be undertaking a two-day senate meeting tomorrow (Monday) during which a position relating to the electoral outcomes will be determined and communicated.
“It is, however, unlikely that ActionSA will depart from its commitment to the South African people to not take the votes we received from South Africans seeking change only to give them to the very party that has created the crisis from which we need change 30 years into our democracy” ActionSA said.
ATM president Vuyo Zungula has encouraged all parties including newly formed parties to support an ANC, MK and EFF coalition.
“Any ANC-DA coalition will be devastating for the country because the parties are ideologically opposed. The programme of government will collapse. There can’t be a effort to transform the lives of the South African people by parties which are opposed at so many levels. There can be no consensus or success in that regard.
“For instance, if there was an ANC-DA coalition, where would that place South Africa’s foreign policy? What would the country’s posture on the genocide in Gaza be? Such a coalition would reverse the gains of transformation,” Zungula said.
The ANC’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, admitted that the ANC suffered a severe defeat by the MKP, which took the bulk of its votes from the ANC in Wednesday’s fiercely contested elections.
Speaking during a media briefing at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) National Results Operations Centre in Midrand on Sunday, Mbalula said the ANC had still to fully grasp what happened at the elections.
He, however, acknowledged the Zuma factor, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where the MKP emerged as the leader of the pack, and in Mpumalanga, where it became the official opposition in the province.
Mbalula revealed that the party, which is set to meet this week, will be deliberating on some of the issues, including possible coalitions, before making a final determination.
The Star
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