Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia – 2016-08-08

South Africa is moving into a new system of politics following the local government elections.

As the African National Congress mulls following the party’s dismal performance in South Africa’s economic hubs, President Jacob Zuma’s future as leader of the ANC is set to be challenged from within, as the fallout over the local government elections ripples through the party.

The final results released by the IEC on Saturday night confirmed the ANC lost Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane to the Democratic Alliance (DA), and needs a coalition to govern Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Rustenburg.

All three metros are hung, with no party having an outright majority, but the DA has a bigger share of the vote in Tshwane and the ANC bigger shares in the other two.

However, the most intense negotiations are expected in the Johannesburg and Tshwane metros, where the EFF has been described as ‘the kingmaker’ between the ANC and DA.

Speaking to Radio Islam, independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga says the forming of coalitions are headaches for political parties.

“It is not only the ANC who’s facing problems; the EFF have to consider if they are going to go with the DA and the ANC.”

Mathekga says a coalition could have severe repercussions to how voters turn up in future elections.

“Usually parties don’t go back to the people and ask for a mandate to go in to a coalition, this leaves constituents angry, because they don’t vote for their parties to go in to a coalition, they vote for them to be in charge.”

Mathekga adds that if the major political parties do create a coalition, it will be tough explaining the choice to their supporters.

Meanwhile, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, says that they have formally met with the DA and the ANC to discuss possible coalitions in metros and municipalities that have no outright winners.

“We can indeed have a conversation that people can come with proposals with what they are offering. I can confirm that we met the ANC, we met the DA and other political parties.” 

With the ANC losing Tshwane to the DA and only managing to hang on to Joburg and Ekurhuleni by a small margin, The Star is reporting that the Gauteng ANC leaders have renewed their calls for ANC President Jacob Zuma to step down as a crucial step while coalitions are fought over.

They also accuse Zuma of messing up their elections campaign because of his racially divisive statements about the DA.

While the poor performance has forced both the ANC and the DA to scramble for coalitions, Gauteng ANC leaders admit any coalition would by no means be an easy decision.