DURBAN - The results of the courtship between the ANC and other parties including the EFF over the formation of a coalition to govern eThekwini Municipality will be known soon as negotiations continue.
This was confirmed by KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela yesterday who said the negotiations team was led by the ruling party’s Treasurer-General Paul Mashatile and consisted of senior members of the National Executive Committee.
The negotiations with other parties are taking place alongside the ANC’s interviewing process of mayoral candidates.
“There are more than two teams that are dealing with the issue of coalitions and the negotiations are continuing,” said Ntombela.
He explained that the primary reason behind having more teams was because there was a greater number of political parties with which the ANC was negotiating.
One of the parties that is likely to play a key role in eThekwini council’s formation is the EFF.
The party’s KZN leader Vusi Khoza confirmed that the EFF had received offers and was weighing its options.
“The negotiations are held at national level by a team led by Deputy Commander in Chief, Floyd Shivambu, and every option available is being weighed carefully,” Khoza told The Mercury.
He dismissed suggestions that he had been approached individually. Khoza, who is currently a Member of Provincial Legislature said he would accept any position or instruction from the party’s leadership.
“In any position I will look to serve with distinction,” Khoza concluded.
Abantu Botho Congress (ABC) leader Philani Mavundla said about 10 small parties had met on Wednesday to plan a way forward. He pointed out that while parties were also talking individually to other parties, they had met however to negotiate about forming a voting block of small parties.
“No agreement has been reached or signed with anyone,” said the ABC leader who was once the ANC chairperson in the Bhambatha region which is made up of Greytown and surrounding areas.
Mavundla said the situation was very complicated.
“It is much more complicated than in 2016, there are ego issues, we have heard the DA and the IFP say they will not work with the ANC, the DA saying it will not work with the EFF,” Mavundla continued.
He added this year’s negotiations were made more difficult because of past experiences over coalitions.
“There are agreements that have not worked in the past and some people have their own parties because they failed in the established parties. There are myriad challenges and some parties already have their eye on 2024 so for instance if you work with the ANC, the voters might reject you on the grounds you partnered with the ANC when they had rejected it,” he said.
Busi Radebe of ActionSA said that the talks are taking place across the board and are being handled by their leadership.
“On Tuesday we held a briefing which spoke to the fact that since we had asked the public to express their views, we had received about 17 000 public opinions on the matter, and we have published a document that is setting out our conditions,” she said.
Political analyst Siyabonga Ntombela said eThekwini was a strategically located municipality, which every political party wanted to have control of, and this was the reason that every party represented in the metro was involved in negotiations.
“If a party wants to make a mark there is no better stage than in KZN’s only metro, and each of the parties represented in the council is aware of that. This is the reason that every one of them is open-minded about entering into negotiations,” said the University of KwaZulu-Natal analyst.
He added that the ANC’s reduced majority was also the reason that the ruling party was considering every possible avenue available to avoid losing control of the metro.
THE MERCURY