In doubt: The Gauteng Provincial
Budget for the 2026/27 financial
year was tabled amid fears in
the province that if the MK party
and the EFF did not support it,
it could lead to a collapse of the
government, hence the idea of
lobbying the DA. Photo: Gauteng
Provincial Legislature
The ANC in Gauteng is increasingly flirting with the idea of working with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Gauteng provincial legislature, which could culminate in the parties working together in hung municipalities, especially Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
This comes as fears grow that the ANC might not be able to pass the budget tabled by Finance MEC Lebogang Maile in the legislature.
Internal ANC and DA sources say ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula is open to the idea, with some leaders of the blue party also pushing for it.
The Gauteng government, led by Premier Panyaza Lesufi, is a minority government dependent on the uMkhonto weSizwe party and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to pass legislation in the legislature.
With EFF leader Julius Malema announcing weeks ago that the party would not vote for anything proposed by the ANC across Gauteng, the ANC has started weighing its options of working with the DA.
A senior leader in the ANC Gauteng told the Mail & Guardian that it was strange for DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille to constantly attack Lesufi on service delivery issues in Gauteng while she was campaigning for the Johannesburg mayoral post.
“She is contesting for Johannesburg mayor but it seems she’s not really saying much about Dada [Morero]; her focus has been on Panyaza.”
The source said it was also telling that the DA in Ekurhuleni did not put its hand up for the speaker position but chose to abstain from voting, resulting in the election of the African Transformation Movement’s John Senona.
Another source said that working with the DA in the province would have benefited the party more than working with the EFF, the uMkhonto weSizwe party and minority parties.
“If we had worked with the DA from the start in all these municipalities, things would have been much more stable because they would be focusing on their base and we would have been focusing on ours.”
Another source in the ANC Gauteng said working with the DA in the province would stabilise municipalities.
“With all these coalitions, there’s horse-trading and decisions are not easily taken, so if the DA and the ANC come together, even though we have differences, municipalities will stabilise.”
A senior source in the DA said the party had never had a problem working with the ANC in Gauteng but the party’s provincial leader Solly Msimanga and his faction had been the stumbling block in ensuring the two parties work together.
In 2024, after the national elections, the ANC and DA had been in conversation about a possible coalition but negotiations fell apart when the ANC felt that the DA had been demanding too much.
The DA demanded proportional sharing of government positions. This came after the ANC had offered them three positions in Lesufi’s cabinet and a deputy speaker position in the legislature and insisted that the EFF should not be allowed to form part of the coalition.
“Solly and them got greedy and wanted more and that is when the ANC decided to go for a minority government. If you look at the national level, we are working together, so we know Mbalula would not mind working with us.”
On possibly negotiating to work together in Gauteng, the source said that if there was a chance for the DA to work with the ANC, they would not mind joining the government of provincial unity.
Msimanga however rejected claims that he was responsible for the collapse of negotiations between the DA and the ANC after the 2024 elections, describing the allegations as politically motivated and disconnected from the discussions that took place between the parties.
Speaking to the M&G in response to claims from some party members that he had derailed coalition talks by demanding additional positions from the ANC, Msimanga said the claims did not reflect the discussions that had taken place between the DA, its municipal caucuses and ANC regional structures.
“It would be interesting to know where this thing is coming from … I can tell you right now we’re going to show you the conversations and the meetings that we would have had with the caucus leaders,” he said.
“We would have engaged with the caucus leaders on the way forward. We would have met with Helen, we would have met with Fikile, we would have met with the regional leadership of the ANC to then say what is possible, if anything is possible.”
Msimanga said the DA ultimately chose to walk away from certain discussions because the ANC’s approach centred on positions rather than policy principles.
‘‘This is why we walked away,” he said. “Why would I walk away and say it’s because the ANC didn’t want to engage us on principles and only wanted to talk about positions?”
He also rejected claims that he had personally tried to negotiate additional posts with ANC leaders, saying the structure of the DA’s coalition discussions meant decisions were not made unilaterally by provincial leaders.
“All caucus leaders will tell you that this has been the conversation all along: parties can come forward with proposals about how they want to work together but the central question must always be what we are doing for the people,” he said.
Msimanga suggested that some of the allegations circulating within the party were being driven by individuals seeking positions in local government.
“There are people who want to come up with rubbish stories,” he said.
“It might be that people are driving their own agendas because they see themselves in blue lights again at a local level. Sadly, we are in that period where slandering has become the order of the DA.”
ANC provincial task team spokesperson Mzi Khumalo said the party was engaging all parties in the legislature and could not respond to rumours about how other parties would vote on the budget.
Khumalo said the notion that the ANC had a problem with the DA was incorrect, adding that the fact that they were in the provincial government of unity did not mean anything beyond cooperation.
He said the MK party was also not part of the Government of National Unity but the ANC did engage with it, adding that there was no party the ANC refused to engage with.
“The politics of coalition require engagements and from where we are standing as the ANC, there is no party that we are not going to engage.
“It is not only on this matter of the budget but also on other matters that we want to be passed in the legislature. As a matter of principle, we are engaging all the parties.
“When the Government of National Unity was put in place, the core of the statement of intent was the fact that we regard all the parties as equal and therefore they should be engaged as such.”
Fears in Gauteng are that if the MK party and the EFF do not vote in support of Maile’s budget, it could lead to a possible collapse of the government, hence the idea of lobbying
the DA.
Khumalo said the budget would be going to different committees for engagement and would be adopted in May, therefore it was too early to speculate on what would happen.
“It will be out of the engagements that are going to be taking place within the committees and the legislature itself that we can begin to talk about those things.
“As far as we are concerned now, the budget was introduced in the legislature and therefore it is upon members of the legislature to engage with that budget.”
MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhela said he did not know of a meeting that had taken place between the party and the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Last week, a letter circulated on social media, purportedly from the party’s deputy president, Tony Yengeni. The letter requested that Mbalula meet Yengeni to discuss a coalition in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
“I saw that letter in the media and on social media and I don’t respond to letters I see on social media. Even if there was going to be a meeting or there was a meeting, I can’t tell anyone.”
Asked whether the party would support the Gauteng budget, Ndhela said he could not discuss the
party’s strategy.
“How do we discuss our strategy with our enemy? Even if we want to support the budget or not support the budget, I can’t tell you.
“Those are discussions we have internally. What is the point of sharing information with your enemies? We can’t.”
Eyaaz
mg.co.za
