South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has decided it would need to form coalition governments with the opposition in cities where it failed to garner majority seats.
Ramaphosa said this after it became apparent that the party faced 66 “hung councils” across the country following last week’s local government elections.
But whom it wanted to partner with in the coalition governments remained a closely guarded secret, with the door left open to any party willing to work with it, ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said.
The ANC came to this conclusion following a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) in Pretoria on Sunday which was called to take stock of the outcome of the municipal polls and discuss a possible coalition pact.
The party lost the majority seats in Durban – a privilege it has enjoyed since 1994.
Its electoral support has also dipped in all Gauteng provincial metros, leading observers to label the party as “a big loser” in these elections.
The NEC’s weekend meeting to ponder on which parties to work with to govern in the hung councils has been entrusted in the hands of policy guru Jeff Radebe who said “the interest of citizens will supersede the ANC’s self-interest.”
Radebe said the ANC would not compromise on the provision of services to citizens in their quest to form coalitions with these parties.
NM/jn/APA