Can the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) seal the coalition deal in KwaZulu-Natal or will it again be relegated to the opposition benches despite securing the largest vote share in key municipalities? The question looms large as political parties in the province set in motion their search for like-minded coalition partners.
The MK Party is reeling after losing a chance to govern the province in its maiden elections in which it secured the lion’s share of the provincial vote — 45%. The party bungled coalition negotiations and was eventually muscled out of power when the ANC, DA, IFP and National Freedom Party bandied together to form the government of provincial unity (GPU).
The MK Party has since appointed a seven-member team to spearhead the negotiations in hung councils. Its negotiators are led by Duduzane Zuma, the party’s first deputy president. He is supported by second deputy president Tony Yengeni, Apostle Mxolisi Phakathi, whom the party had fielded as the eThekwini mayoral candidate, acting secretarygeneral Lindiwe Mtshali-Makubu, KZN party convener Willies Mchunu, advocate Dali Mpofu SC and treasurer Dr Thanti Mthanti.
This week the negotiations began with backtracking. Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu and Mpofu expressed opposing views in terms of the posture the party has adopted in its engagements with other parties.
Mahlangu earlier ruled out working with the DA, citing the party’s policy position on issues such as land and broad-based BEE. Instead, he explained the MK Party was open to talks only on forming a united left front block and for black parties to assume state and municipal power. Mpofu said the party was keen on meeting the DA to unlock a governing pact in some of the hung councils “Yes, I can confirm that the DA has reached out. Their leader wrote a letter to president (Jacob) Zuma inviting discussions on coalition. We’ve accepted … that we will speak with anybody. We will approach the discussions with the DA in the same MK spirit of an open book,” Mpofu stated in an interview with the SABC.
The party emerged as the biggest winner in the municipal elections, with just over 34% of the combined ward and proportional-representa-tion provincial vote. Contesting its first municipal elections after being formed during the lead-up to the 2024 general elections, the MK Party also secured an outright majority in the rural council of Impendle, where it gained six out of 11 council seats translating to 42.61%. In Richmond municipality it secured 56.27% of the vote and walked away with 10 of the 17 council seats. Both councils are in the midlands region.
Over the years the councils were considered ANC strongholds, with the former governing party recording back-to-back comfortable majority wins. Out of the 34 hung councils in the province, the ANC splinter group, the MK Party, commands the biggest vote share in 19 councils.
The councils up for grabs include eThekwini metro, the heart of the provincial economy and the City of uMhlathuze on the north coast. The council, in Richards Bay, boasts the country’s largest cargo port and is surrounded by heavy metal and chemical industries. The Msunduzi local municipality in Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KZN. KwaDukuza, also on the north coast, covers the posh suburb of Ballito and other areas. Another highly sought-after municipality is Newcastle, formerly governed by the IFP.
Zwakele Mncwango, the leader of ActionSA in KZN said that while the party was meeting all parties who had secured seats in various municipalities, it was doing so cautiously.
“Of course, we want to occupy the position of mayor in eThekwini so that we can bring about the change we promised the people. But I will not be a token mayor or hoodwinked into forming a coalition that doesn’t work for ordinary people.”
He said his party had met the leadership of the MK Party.
Of the 223 eThekwini metro council seats, ActionSA holds seven, making the Herman Mashaba-led party a key power broker. About 112 seats are needed to form a government in eThekwini. The MK Party, after securing 86 seats, has the biggest share but fell short of 26 seats to govern alone. The DA is the second biggest with 57 seats, followed by the ANC on 37 seats and the IFP. Other parties such as the EFF secured four seats, a massive fall from the 24 PR seats it occupied in the past elections.
If the GPU partners in the ANC, DA and the IFP opt to expand their relationship to the local government sphere, combined they will have 109 seats, needing three seats from the smaller parties to govern.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said stability in municipalities was among the party’s non-negotiables.
“We’re not prepared to govern at all costs. If there’s no clear path forward, the IFP is ready to take opposition benches. The point we are at now is developing a set of scenarios to the formulation in the 19 hung councils that the IFP is leading,” said Hlengwa.
The DA in KZN said it had met leaders of the smaller parties with the hope of pushing out the MK Party and forming a slim majority.
“We are committed to building a KZN that works for everyone. Following the mandate from our Federal Executive, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has officially initiated coalition discussions with political partners who share our core values: clean and accountable government, rooting out corruption, delivering quality service to every community, upholding the rule of law, and standing firmly for non-racialism. These principles aren’t up for negotiation, they are the foundation of every conversation we have as we work to secure a stable, transparent, and prosperous future for our province,” Sithembiso Ngema, the party’s KZN leader, said.
The ANC, although having met the MK Party top brass, remained mum on what formed the discussion during this week’s engagements.
Professor Musa Xulu, a social researcher and political commentator, told the Mail & Guardian that he does not see the ANC striking a governing pact with its splinter party.
“Because of the manner in which the MK Party was formed and later taken by Jacob Zuma in 2023, and the hurt this brought to the ANC, it is highly unlikely that the ANC will join forces with the MKP in the hung municipalities. It is expected that coalition partners in the KZN GPU will prefer to keep the arrangements with the addition of smaller parties like ActionSA. While the DA, EFF and MKP have indicated their dislike of each other, the GNU and GPU partners have established some kind of stability at both the national and provincial ( KZN) levels,” Xulu said.
Xulu said the ANC,DA and IFP alliance would bring stability in the hung councils to attract investors leading to job opportunities.
“I will be surprised if the MKP gets enough support from smaller parties to govern eThekwini and all the major economic hubs in KZN to the exclusion of the ANC, DA and IFP.”