Mzwanele Manyi said the DA will use coalition negotiations to "marginalise" the MK party and other progressive political parties
As coalition negotiations continue across South Africa, the MK party’s Mzwanele Manyi has warned that the DA will use any gains it makes in local government to position itself to win the next national elections.
“The DA is not merely competing for mayoral positions. It is building institutional control and consolidating itself as a governing alternative ahead of 2029,” he said in a post on social media.
Exclusion of MK party in coalitions
Manyi also asked if the DA is using coalition negotiations to “marginalise” the MK party and other progressive political parties.
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In the 2024 national and provincial election, the MK party was not included in the coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal, despite getting the most votes in the province.
“The danger is that coalition arithmetic becomes an instrument of exclusion. Parties that disagree nationally find common ground locally whenever their interests converge, especially when the outcome is to keep another formation out of executive power.”
In the recent local government elections, the DA secured the most votes in the Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay municipalities. It, however, needs to form coalitions to govern these metros.
National leadership deciding local governments
Manyi voiced concern that national party leaders are involved in deciding local governments. He also said the existing government of national unity (GNU) will be used as a basis for the ANC to form local coalitions with the DA.
“In Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, the ANC’s national leadership has centralised coalition negotiations through its national structures and a negotiating task team led by Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, while the DA’s Federal Executive has also mandated its own coalition engagements,” he said.
“This demonstrates that national party leaderships are directly shaping the formation of local governments. Every municipality has its own arithmetic. But local flexibility must not be confused with the absence of an overarching strategy. The 2029 elections are already the horizon.”
ANC resistance to working with DA
Manyi’s warning comes as some in the ANC have already said they’d prefer not to form a coalition with the DA. The NEC even decided that it would only form a coalition with the DA as a “last resort”.
Some ANC members blamed the party’s poor performance in the local elections on its partnership with the DA in the GNU.
The South African Communist Party (SACP) has also urged the ANC to ditch the DA.
SACP’s acting national spokesperson Mhlekwa Nxumalo said the ANC is now realising its coalition with the DA could be detrimental.
“This is good progress from the side of the ANC. NEC members now acknowledge that some of the problems that the ANC is facing are as a result of the ANC working with the DA,” he said.
