The ANC’s top seven officials, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, will this week conduct interviews for potential premiers in the five provinces where the party won majorities and other provinces where it could be part of coalition governments.
The interviews exclude premier candidates in the Western Cape, where the party received 21% of the vote and will remain on the opposition benches, and in KwaZulu-Natal, where former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) made major electoral inroads at the expense of the ANC.
The interviews will take place over two days, starting on Monday, according to an internal memorandum sent by the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, to the head of the party’s electoral commission, former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
The interviews will take place before the first sittings of provincial legislatures, at which MPLs will be sworn in for the seventh administration.
The interviews for the premier candidates will coincide with the second and final week of coalition talks between political parties as they consider the ANC’s proposal to form a government of national unity (GNU).
Though the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has not provided a reason for not fielding candidates for premier, Business Day understands that the party in the province is leaning towards supporting IFP provincial chair Thami Ntuli, should the party’s national leadership opt for an IFP-ANC-DA alliance in the province. “We have not met [to decide] which candidate will we be choosing for what when we have lost the province,” an ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive member said when questioned on the way forward.
MK got 45% support in the province, removing the ANC as governing party. The ANC got 17% compared with 54% in 2019. The IFP is the second-largest party with 18% of the vote.
Agreement in principle
The DA and the IFP have in principle agreed to the ANC proposal to form a GNU, with each party having met the ANC to iron out the details of the proposed agreement.
The EFF has said that it will reject the GNU proposal if it involves the DA and the Freedom Front Plus.
The red berets are not opposed to forming a coalition with MK in KwaZulu-Natal. “We will have an independent engagement with MK to constitute a government in KwaZulu-Natal,” EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu said on Friday.
“Our view is that MK should lead the government of KwaZulu-Natal because they had the highest number of people who voted for them in the province,”
The DA’s federal executive and the IFP’s national executive committee (NEC) are scheduled to meet separately on Monday to deliberate on the ANC’s GNU proposal.
The DA set out six principles that should inform the new administration. These principles include the independence of the SA Reserve Bank, protection and promotion of the constitution, a sustainable fiscal framework, creating a corruption-free public service and continuation of Operation Vulindlela, the joint office within the presidency and Treasury that oversees policy reforms in network industries.
“The DA stands for an open society underpinned by the constitution, in which every person’s rights are respected and in which security and prosperity are enjoyed by all,” the DA said in an internal document.
The DA also said that the key Operation Vulindlela reforms should be given priority.
These reforms are: the unbundling of Eskom; port concessions; the water regulator (key because water-shedding was a significant factor in the election result); skilled visa programme; title deeds to expand home ownership; mineral rights reforms (the establishment of an effective cadastral system); and rapid expansion of digital spectrum availability (vital for growth).
Update: June 9 2024
This story has been updated with new information throughout.
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