A decline in support has forced the ANC into unwanted coalition arrangements.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the ANC is not to blame for some of the controversial mayors who have been elected in the City of Johannesburg.
Speaking at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Monday, he emphasised that South Africa is in an era of coalition politics. He said this sometimes leaves the ANC with no choice but to negotiate with other parties in municipalities.
“We have made people with one seat in this country mayors. Do we have a choice? We don’t; we have to sing along even if we know that we have got capabilities, but for us to govern, we need that person.”
Fragility of coalition politics
He said Johannesburg has had several mayors in one term since the 2021 local government elections.
This includes the ANC’s Mpho Moerane, the DA’s Mpho Phalatse, and Al-Jama-ah’s Thapelo Amad and Kabelo Gwamanda (also from Al-Jama-ah), as well as the current mayor, Dada Morero, who comes from the ANC.
The ANC and its partners elected Amad as mayor in 2023, but after a few weeks, they asked him to resign because he was facing allegations of incompetence.
In the City of Ekurhuleni, where the ANC was also in a coalition with smaller parties, a mayor from a small party was elected but later removed for allegedly failing to run the municipality efficiently.
New legislation
He said the DA and the ANC, the two biggest parties in the country, are now in favour of legislation that will come up with a threshold for coalition arrangements. This will lessen the chances of candidates from small parties being able to occupy mayoral positions.
He said smaller parties are rejecting this proposal because it would dampen their chances of occupying powerful positions in the municipality.
“That is why we will work for an outright majority, and we are not working for a coalition government,” he said.
What about Dunga?
Mbalula also made reference to the public dissatisfaction with the appointment of the EFF’s Nkululeko Dunga as the province’s Finance MEC.
He was appointed by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi earlier this month. Dunga was fired in the City of Ekurhuleni in 2024, where he held a position as Finance MMC.
The EFF was in a coalition with the ANC at the time. But Mbalula says it is not the ANC’s fault that their coalition partners give them questionable candidates to occupy positions in public office.
“We are in a coalition; who are we to tell Julius [Malema] who he should give us? He gives us who he wants to give us, and he gave us Dunga,” he said.
Mbalula said the ANC is not to blame for this appointment, even though it was done by their premier.
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