PRESIDENT-ELECT Thabo Mbeki hinted strongly that an alliance with the Inkatha Freedom Party is on the cards when he invited IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi to join him on the podium on Monday night to receive the election results. A deal with the IFP gives Mbeki 75% of seats in the National Assembly, and control of every province except the Western Cape. “I want to take him out of the IFP and put him into government,” Mbeki joked.