‘It’s all about egos,’ says analyst on parties’ approach to coalitions

It’s official – the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will not establish coalitions together due to irreconcilable differences – but a coalition that excludes the ANC may in the offing in the Gauteng metros.

Political analyst Sanusha Naidu said it was astonishing parties were remaining so rigid in their approach to coalitions.

“The parties seem to be saying ‘all or nothing’. Up to this stage, the negotiations are still too fragile, but the question is what will happen to governance and the running of the municipality. At the end of the day it’s all about egos,” Naidu said.

This as the EFF turned to Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA as the last hope for establishing a coalition after its talks with the ANC broke down over the EFF’s preconditions for their governing partnership.

The EFF decided to close the door on future talks with the ANC and vowed to teach it a lesson and destabilise it at the municipal level.

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Instead, the EFF was now open to negotiations with ActionSA and the Inkatha Freedom Party, but not the Democratic Alliance and the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

The Democratic Alliance said it would never partner with the EFF, which in turn said it would not form a coalition with the PA, which EFF leader Julius Malema said was a “party of bandits”.

Malema said the ANC could not accept any of the 10 policy preconditions for a coalition put forward by the EFF.

It refused to commit to the amendment of the constitution to realise land expropriation without compensation in six
months, the creation of a state bank, the nationalisation of SA Reserve Bank and removal of Die Stem from the national anthem.

The EFF also asked for student debt to be cancelled, a state pharmaceutical company, free sanitary towels for the needy, clinics to be open 24-hours and free water and electricity for social grant beneficiaries.

ALSO READ: ANC NEC rejects EFF proposal to split control of Gauteng’s three major metros – report