MK, EFF, SACP form bloc to drive municipal agendas, with conditional support for ANC

As political parties negotiate municipal coalitions, one group of parties, representing 20% of the vote share collectively, has mobilised to create a bloc that will co-operate with one another in municipal governments. 

The Council of the Left, including the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South African Communist Party (SACP), African Congress for Transformation (ACT), and the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, among other political parties and grassroots organisations, announced during a press conference at Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg on Thursday, 12 November, that they will drive a joint programme in councils where they are represented. 

Among those present were MK party national negotiator Dali Mpofu, EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini, ACT founder and former Free State premier Ace Magashule and SACP leader Solly Mapaila. 

Their programme includes a drive to end privatisation of national assets, rebuild municipalities that prioritise land, decent housing, jobs, affordable electricity and clean water, and call for the removal from the government of national unity of “reactionary forces”, including the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front Plus. 

The parties were briefing the media while the ANC national executive committee was meeting at the same venue to discuss the party’s coalition strategy.

Members negotiating individually

Speaking on behalf of the council, Mpofu confirmed that this decision would not affect current coalition negotiations. 

“Individual organisations are going to be holding their [own] negotiations, but we’re in touch because we are the same. We’re in touch and we hope that next time, probably by the next elections, we’ll be in a position to negotiate as a bloc because of some of the lessons we’re learning here.”

Mpofu confirmed that the MK party had been formally approached by the DA for coalition negotiations and was open to working with anyone who wanted to negotiate with the party in local government, despite their ideological differences.

The DA had also reached out to the EFF and SACP, despite earlier statements from the party that it would be unwilling to work in a coalition with either the MK party or the EFF. 

“Local government really deals with issues of, all the issues we’ve spoken about here, water, electricity, sanitation, and therefore it is not really a place for ideological contestation. Our contradictions against what the DA and its allies stand for will remain because they represent the forces of reaction. And we will say all these things we are saying here; we’re not going to mince our words,” Mpofu said. 

The briefing follows comments from the ANC Youth League calling for the party to reject “right-wing” parties such as the DA, while the EFF has called on the ANC to reconcile with its offshoots to form coalitions.

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ANC invited with conditions

Notably absent despite its alliance with the SACP was the African National Congress (ANC). The council stated that it had extended an invitation to the ANC, but would not offer guaranteed support to the party.

“Our condition is very clear, that if the ANC is willing to agree with us on our minimum programme, of making sure that these municipalities that we are about to enter become true centres of people’s power, where the interests of our people come first, we will work with the ANC,” said Thato Wa Magogodi, first deputy president of the Afrika Mayibuye Movement. 

“To the extent that the ANC is willing to step out of its problematic relationship with the forces that contradict that programme, which includes those that we have mentioned in name, which [are] the DA and the Freedom Front, we are willing to consider the ANC.”

Although the ANC still has the largest vote share, its decline to just 30.75% and second or third place in key metros such as Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, has made it more likely that the party may look to the DA as a coalition partner to reach a majority. 

Fragmented votes

The council argues that the parties it considers to be black parties are sitting at just below 50% of the total vote share. This, they argue, has been compounded by the introduction of new parties that have consequently fragmented black voters, in particular.  

The EFF’s Dlamini did not mention any of these parties by name, but alleged they had been well funded. 

“We are conscious about [fragmentation], and we know this fragmentation is not just happening out of the blue. It’s sponsored, it’s funded. Some of them [that] are sponsored, they’ve got black faces. So it is a matter that we are dealing with,” said Dlamini.

The council said it would wait until after municipal councils were finalised to announce its next strategy. DM