The ANC’s highest decision-making body, the national executive committee (NEC), is expected to consider a proposal to reject the possibility of a formal coalition agreement with either the DA or EFF on Thursday, multiple sources told Business Day.
The ANC’s powerful national working committee (NWC) is the executive arm of the ANC that translates broader decisions of the party into action plans. It will suggest offering positions in parliament and the national executive to smaller opposition parties including the DA and EFF, according to six people who attended the NWC meeting this week, in a move aimed at securing a second term as head of state for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In its weakest electoral performance since the end of apartheid, the ANC saw its share of the vote fall to 40% in last week’s general election, while the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party emerged as a significant force behind the official opposition DA.
“Everything else will have to be negotiated as it comes,” one ANC NWC source said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Amid internal party anxiety and the constitutional deadline to elect a president within two weeks of the election result, the ANC’s top brass are in discussions to determine the most viable path forward.
Some in the party are said to be exploring various power-sharing options, including a government of national unity and a “supply and confidence model”, where a minority party could lead parliament with the ANC controlling the executive.
The NWC’s recommendation for what is essentially a minority government — with no single party or pre-established coalition of parties having an absolute majority of seats — may raise questions about policy paralysis if there is broad consensus at the NEC meeting starting on Thursday.
“We have to form a government that respects the will of the people and tries and accommodate everyone,” said another ANC NWC member.
“The offer as it stands excludes MK, which is fine,” said a third ANC NWC member.
At a media briefing on Wednesday, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu alluded to “high levels of anxiety” in the party going into Thursday’s ANC NEC.
According to the constitution, the National Assembly must meet and elect a president within two weeks of the Electoral Commission of SA announcing the election results. Though the ANC lost its majority, it still won the highest number of votes, enabling it to dominate talks with other parties.
In an interview on Monday, ANC first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane said engagements with opposition parties were brief and would resume only after the ANC’s NEC meeting. “There have not been any substantive conversations on how we can collaborate. We are still trying to talk to everyone,” said Mokonyane.
ANC’s provincial executive committees, apart from KwaZulu-Natal’s, met on Monday to discuss election results, and to compile a list of premier candidates for the national leadership.
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