Mbalula to lead ANC coalition negotiating team
African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula will lead the party’s coalition negotiating team.
African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula will lead the party’s coalition negotiating team as it seeks to remain in power.
Following a dismal 2024 election campaign which saw the ANC record its lowest ever vote percentage in 30 years, it will now require a coalition in order to remain the ruling party.
South Africa is set to be governed by a coalition pact for the next five years after the ANC picked up just 40.18% of the vote.
In addition, it lost its majority in three provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), meanwhile, will continue to rule the Western Cape.
In addition to Fikile Mbalula, the ANC’s negotiating team will comprise Chairperson Gwede Mantashe, First Deputy Secretary General Nomvula Mokonyane, Second Deputy Secretary General Maropane Ramokgopa and Treasurer General Gwen Ramokgopa.
Neither President Cyril Ramaphosa nor Deputy President Paul Mashatile are part of the ANC’s negotiating team.
DA ASSEMBLES HEAVYWEIGHT NEGOTIATING TEAM
The DA announced the compilation of its coalition negotiations team featuring a number of the party’s senior leaders.
The team will be headed by former DA leaders Tony Leon and Helen Zille.
Leon, who served as party leader from 1999 to 2007, and Zille, who was leader from 2007 to 2015, will lead the negotiating team that will – and has been – speaking to various parties to wrangle out a governance deal.
Other members of the negotiating team are Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, chief whip Siviwe Gwarube, federal chairperson Ivan Meyer, and strategist Ryan Coetzee.
The DA has not ruled out the possibility of joining the ANC to form a government in parliament and provincial legislatures.
Speaking during a media briefing after the election results were announced, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party’s coalition negotiations team would engage all other political parties.
Steenhuisen is not part of the DA negotiation party.
“This talented and experienced team will report back to myself and to the federal executive – whereafter the party will decide on the way forward. I want to assure South Africans that the DA will always act in the interest of the people throughout this unprecedented moment in our history.”
The DA finished second in the 2024 election with 3 505 735 votes which represented 21.81% overall.