South Africa ANC coalition strategy is taking shape behind closed doors, with the party set to skip a left-wing meeting on Wednesday and wait for its national executive committee to set its position on Thursday.
According to Business Day, the ANC will shun a Council of the Left meeting on Wednesday involving the South African Communist Party (SACP), the EFF, the MK party and other left-leaning parties, where discussions are expected to include the way forward on coalition negotiations after last week’s municipal elections. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula confirmed the party would not attend, saying it had not participated in previous Council of the Left meetings. “We have not attended the left party meeting before, and we will not attend it now,” Mbalula said.
The ANC won 30.7% nationally in the 4 November local elections, according to Business Day, down from 45.6% in 2021. The DA followed with 24.24%, the MK party with 9.76% and the EFF with 6.22%. Only Cape Town will be governed with an outright majority, after the DA received 56.42% of the vote there. The other metros — Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Buffalo City, Mangaung and eThekwini — will be governed through coalitions.
Centralised talks, Thursday decision
Mbalula leads the ANC’s coalitions task team, which also includes trade minister Parks Tau, finance minister Enoch Godongwana and mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe, according to Business Day. The ANC has decided to centralise coalition negotiations, meaning provinces and regions have little say on which parties they will coalesce with.
ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane said it would be a busy week for the party as its leadership met to determine its approach, and that the stance would be “guided by the outcome of the national executive committee on the options that we must take, informed by the outcomes of every municipality”, according to Business Day.
According to Bloomberg, via Moneyweb, some ANC national executive committee members are discussing whether to make the case at Thursday’s meeting that the party’s tie-up with the DA in the 2024 national coalition cost it votes in last week’s municipal elections, and that it should end. Mbalula told reporters the ANC will announce its position on coalitions on 13 November and will not comment until then.
Unverified Gauteng claim
Africa Daily reported on 10 November, citing unnamed sources close to the ANC top seven, that Mbalula instructed the Gauteng Provincial Task Team on Monday to order councillors in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni to vote with the DA. The report itself says no written instruction was seen, Mbalula and the ANC spokesperson had not responded, and the ANC’s Greater Joburg regional secretary said no such instruction had been communicated. Treat this as an unverified claim, not a confirmed decision.
ActionSA representatives met Mbalula and other ANC officials on Sunday to discuss conditions for entering coalitions, according to Moneyweb. The MK party’s coalition negotiator, Dali Mpofu, said “hardcore talks” on coalitions were expected later this week. The new metro councils must convene within 14 days of being declared elected.
Sources: Business Day, 10 Nov 2026; Moneyweb / Bloomberg, 9 Nov 2026; Africa Daily, 10 Nov 2026 (unverified claim, flagged)
