The ANC has ruled out recalling president Cyril Ramaphosa despite the party's dismal performance in this week's elections, which might force it to go into coalitions with opposition parties in order to govern.
With 67.72% of voting districts declared, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR’s) prediction model projects that the ANC will come out with 40.5% — its worst showing since the advent of majority rule in 1994.
This projects a dramatic shift in SA’s political landscape, which has been dominated by the ANC for 30 years.
The dismal showing has led some analysts to speculate a wholesale clean-up of the party's leadership. They say Ramaphosa's job could be on the line as part of the clean-up..
But despite the dismal showing, the party's first deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane said the party was not looking to recall Ramaphosa. She said the ANC would opt for stability within the party and the country instead.
The president has done well ... when we went into elections we were told that we will emerge with 36% and we went beyond that and it was because of the leadership.
— Nomvula Mokonyane, ANC first deputy secretary general
"The president has done well ... when we went into elections we were told that we will emerge with 36% and we went beyond that and it was because of the leadership," Mokonyane said on Thursday.
"At the time where we are we need all hands on deck ... once we are done with these results the constitution of the ANC will give us a mandate."
Business Day understands that the ANC's top seven officials are meeting on Friday evening to discuss the outcome of the elections. This is ahead of the anticipated meeting of the national executive committee (NEC) meeting over the weekend.
The NEC is the most senior body of the party in between congresses.
Other political parties are also expected to hold top-level meetings to discuss possible coalition as no party is projected to come out with a simple majority.
The CSIR has also projected that the DA will come up with 21.59%, the MK 14.53%, the EFF 9.39% and the Inkatha Freedom Party 3.86% of the national ballot.
The MK party's Duduzile Zuma said her party was willing to work with the ANC on condition that it kicks out Ramaphosa. Zuma is the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, whose political rivalry with Ramaphosa in the ANC was attributed as one of the reasons for the party's instability.
"Definitely not the ANC of Ramaphosa," she said on Friday when asked about possible coalition with the ANC. "As long we are close enough when it comes to land," she said.
Meanwhile, the NEC and the DA's federal executive committee (Fedex) are expected to meet separately on Sunday to discuss their parties’ respective ways forward.
According to memos seen by Business Day from the two parties, the only thing on the agenda of both meetings “coalitions”.
Chair of the DA’s Fedex, Helen Zille, confirmed that her party would also meet the likes of the IFP, ActionSA and FF Plus first before discussing any possible engagement with the ANC.
“The MPC (Multi-Party Coalition) talks will take place tomorrow at the latest; that is where we start and then we go from there,” she told Business Day.
She said there were a lot of options that were available for the DA. “If the governing party [ANC] falls below 50%, there is never just one option; there are always many different permutations of getting to over 50% and even a minority government is an option.”
Zille said the DA would analyse all the options and take “the least bad one”. Zille said.
Zille is on record as saying the DA would do everything possible to prevent a coalition between the ANC and EFF should the governing party not win a majority in the national and provincial ballots, and she suggested an ANC and DA coalition was still unlikely.
“We have done a study on the history of coalitions and every single time the ANC has been in coalition with any party and even an arrangement that is not formally called a coalition such as the tripartite alliance, the ANC has always destroyed its partners.
“Now the worst thing for SA would be for the DA to be destroyed, so we will have to look options that prevents the dooms day coalition without destroying the DA.”
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