Some surveys predict that the ANC's support will continue to decline, but the party has stated that it will not give up fighting for an outright majority.
Mpumalanga ANC chairperson Mandla Ndlovu says the ANC is under siege by toxic coalition partners in government.
He said party members should campaign hard to make sure that the ANC has an overwhelming majority in most municipalities after next year’s local government elections.
Ndlovu was speaking at the regional elective conference in Ehlanzeni on Saturday.
“We have to start now to prepare for the 2026 local government elections. We have no option but to win elections for the poor and the working class. Save the ANC from the toxic coalition governments…save us from this abusive, toxic relationship.
“Our deployees, who are there in coalition governments, are not using both hands to give people services, but only one hand while the other hand is used to protect them against coalition partners,” he said.
ANC-EFF-MKP coalition?
Ndlovu suggested that a coalition government with the EFF and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party would also not benefit the ANC.
“It is disgusting to listen to senior leaders who say we can have a better coalition government with either MK Party or EFF. Maybe some of them were slumbering, or they were dozing in 2016 when EFF gave a specific requirement of entering into a coalition government, they said fire Zuma.
“The MK Party recently said to us, fire President Ramaphosa and come to the table and talk. All of them, irrespective of whether they are on the left or not, have the same agenda to clip the wings of the high-flying ANC,” he said.
ANC presidential contest in 2027
He said parties like the EFF and the MK Party had made unreasonable demands, leaving the ANC with no choice but to leave them out of the government of national unity (GNU).
“The president of the ANC is the torchbearer. Even the NEC, which is the highest decision-making body between conferences, does not have the standing to remove a sitting president while he is still in the political office,” he said.
Ndlovu said he still believes that the ANC had made a mistake by removing former President Thabo Mbeki while he was still in office.
He said he hopes that after the 2027 elective conference, the ANC will allow Ramaphosa to finish his term as state president.
“We must know that President Mbeki was aggrieved. He did not campaign for the ANC. He started recently to campaign for the ANC in the last two general elections of the ANC,” he said.
Ndlovu believes that some people want to know if the ANC will allow Ramaphosa to complete his term.
“Our people are eager to know what will happen beyond 2027,” he said.
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SACP decision to contest elections without the ANC
Ndlovu said the ANC top seven have been mandated to continue talks with the SACP to convince them to abandon their plan to contest elections next year.
“We want to request the SACP to reconsider its decision,” he said.
