DA, IFP say not willing to get into bed with ANC as it sets up team to engage in coalition negotiations

ANC

Cape Town – The African National Congress (ANC) says it has assembled a team of negotiators led by treasurer-general Paul Mashatile and deputy secretary Jessie Duarte to oversee the party’s coalition negotiations.

This comes after at least 66 municipalities ended up without a clear victory in the just-ended local government elections.

“This initiative is one of the many constructive engagements that are happening at all levels of the organisation. This follows the number of hung municipalities throughout the country,” ANC said in a statement.

The ruling party also said it was a common denominator is “all these hung municipalities”, as it garnered most of the council seats in these yet to be decided municipalities.

The ANC won 46% of the ballots, down from 54% in the last municipal elections five years ago.

Lack of service delivery and alleged corruption, resulting in bad governance were some of the reasons that led to the ANC’s bad performance.

Most opposition parties have since indicated their unwillingness to engage in coalition talks with it.

Following a meeting of its Federal Executive on Sunday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) announced that it had ruled out going into coalition governments with the ANC and the Economic Freedom Frighters (EFF), according to News24.

“It is not the DA’s role to save the ANC. It’s not what our voters want; it’s not what the DA stands for as a party,” the report quoted John Steenhuisenthe as saying.

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Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has also said it will not be forming a coalition with the ANC.

“We have no intention of coming to the voters in 2024 to apologise for our poor performance and ask for another chance, we are not prepared to do that. Complacency and mediocre services will not be tolerated. Good and competent governance is what people need. We will give the electorate every reason to believe in the IFP’s solid record of integrity and good governance,” SABC News quoted IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa as saying.

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Compiled by Reginald Nhlapo

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