The DA has not commented directly on ActionSA’s proposal that it drop Helen Zille as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate as a condition for a coalition in the city.
ActionSA says it is willing to work with the DA in Johannesburg, but not under a mayoral candidacy led by Zille.
Coalition discussions are under way after no party won an outright majority in the city in last week’s local government elections.
The DA finished as the largest party with 34% of the vote, but still needs about 17% more to reach the 50% plus one threshold required to elect a mayor.
ActionSA has reportedly already held meetings with the ANC and the EFF as part of coalition discussions in hung councils nationally.
The challenge will be reaching an arrangement that allows the parties to govern Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane together. All three metros are hung councils following the elections, and no party can govern alone in any of them.
The DA has said it intends to take control of Johannesburg and assemble the numbers needed to elect Zille as mayor.
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont said the party is not inclined to back Zille’s bid for the mayoral post.
“ActionSA has raised concerns about Helen Zille and any mayoral team she could lead, pointing to a record of destabilising and collapsing working coalitions governed from her Cape Town home,” Beaumont said.
ActionSA and the DA have not yet met for coalition talks.
On Wednesday, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba asked for space to conduct negotiations not only with the DA but with other parties too, as the party seeks to keep its options open in the hung metros.
The proposal put forward by ActionSA is understood to be that Mashaba would drop his own Johannesburg mayoral ambitions on condition that Zille also drops hers, opening the way for a compromise candidate to lead a coalition government.
A source close to the DA said the party is dismissing the proposal without directly addressing it.
DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the party has taken a conscious decision not to negotiate through the media.
“The DA has taken a conscious decision not to engage with other parties through the media during this negotiations phase,” Msimanga said.
“We are meeting with other parties and carving out a way forward, and we would prefer that any party genuinely interested in constructive and collaborative discussions do so internally and not through the media.
“We believe coalition talks are best held around the table, not in press statements and public letters. That is how we build trust, that is how we protect the integrity of the process, and that is how we ultimately deliver stable governments that serve residents.”
“Once there is something concrete to announce, we will communicate it jointly and responsibly,” Msimanga said.
Zille’s candidacy was central to the DA’s campaign in Johannesburg. The party presented her as its candidate to lead the metro, which has had several changes of mayor since the 2021 local government elections.
Party insiders have said dropping her now would be seen as a concession that undermines the DA’s position as the largest party in the city.
ActionSA argues that her leadership style and history of intervening in coalition governments make her unsuitable to lead a multi-party arrangement in Johannesburg.
The DA and ActionSA have previously worked together in coalition governments in Gauteng.
In Johannesburg, the two parties were part of multi-party governments formed after the 2021 elections, which later collapsed amid disputes between coalition partners.