Subsequent to the 2026 local government elections which took place on the 4 November, the results provide a glimpse toward a state of absolute deadlock – requiring political parties such as the DA, ANC, MK Party, ActionSA, EFF, and others to simultaneously charge themselves with intense commitment to form coalition partnerships.
The battleground of opposing forces remains ripe, and several political parties may furiously begin to pull in different directions to form preferred alliance.
High-stakes negotiation deadlocks
The DA would be forced to lock horns with either the ANC, ActionSA or PA to form a coalition across metropolitan municipalities, specifically in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Ekurhuleni where the DA secured a victory of 34,79% (91 seats), 34,37% (74 seats), 44,17% (53 seats), and 30,68% (66 seats) respectively. For instance, a stronger coalition could be established in Nelson Mandela Bay between the DA and the ANC with their fewer voters’ support of 25,48% (32 seats), which could be emanating from the previous chaotic coalition in this metro.
It is very unlikely that the MK Party would show any interest to form coalitions with the DA in eThekwini where they won by 38,29% (86 seats). Frankly speaking, the MK Party would need the DA, ANC, IFP, and ActionSA to establish a stable multi-party coalition, otherwise eThekwini would turn into a big failure.
In Mangaung and Buffalo City the ANC won by 33,91% and 42,02%, respectively. Perhaps, in Buffalo City, the UDM as the second largest party with 18,27%, may kick-start talks with the ANC to form a stable coalition. However, negotiations might start to reflect a dramatic wall because the established parties as the DA and ANC are prone to act as if they scooped majority votes – this could lead to these two parties fizzling out conversations critical to rebuilding public trust and the municipal system due to underlying stakes with hidden interests and emotions in a volatile political landscape.
In the City of Cape Town, the DA commanded a 56,42% (133 seats) victory needed to establish and lead a council. Whilst the overall results show that no political party could command over 50% of voters’ support across the board.
In the midst of coalition formation due to the 2026 local government elections, outgoing municipal councils are all expected to exercise care in the process of making decisions to ensure that upcoming councils are not affected – specifically when making long-term decisions. This means that councils should adhere to issued joint circulars by government to draw their guidance on managing the outcoming and incoming councils to maintain municipal administration and the delivery of services.
The outright political pride has perished?
The electoral doldrums perhaps show that the ANC’s pie has become tasteless. The big decline of voters’ support across municipalities, particularly in Mangaung metro, and uMshwathi Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, perhaps is one of the most apparent losses of outright control of the ANC, whereby the party has been dethroned from 58,86% to 32,61%. The worst blow is the ANC losing to the MK Party.
Between 2016 and 2021, ANC had already come under public scrutiny due to its inability to perform and deliver expected services across the national, provincial, and local government. Critics argue that the ANC’s failure is attributed to its failure to submit a list of nominated candidate names resulting into 180 candidates being excluded from contesting the local government elections across 213 municipalities. This hiccup led to the party’s supporters angered and some even demanded that the Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula be removed. Mbalula was relieved when the apex court ruled in the ANC’s favour and declared that its failure to press ‘submit’ as final through the online candidate nomination was acknowledged as a technical glitch as some would call it. The ANC has had countless problems stemming from both internal and external factors. Amongst others, governance weaknesses, widespread corruption and uneven power-sharing creating a culture of unstable government is spread across the media with some linked to the ANC.
During the MK Party media briefing Jacob Zuma mentioned that “we do not understand the problems that we have had for years, and that we have become a weak nation by voting in multiple ways – yet even after voting we still do not have a single political party that can lead the country”. Zuma asked a very important question: “why can’t we take over the country and rule it?”
The IEC has completed the vote counting for the 2026 local government elections, which has marked a complete shift across municipalities. On the other hand, the MK Party is calling for eThekwini election results to be frozen over IEC system failures during the capturing of results within disputed voting districts and wards. The party believes there have been discrepancies in counting and verification of the votes. The party’s acting secretary-general Lindiwe Makubu raised concerns over the mismatch between results captured on the IEC electronic leaderboards and certified physical results slips. This will surely affect the next two weeks of intense negotiations for coalition partnerships.
Another angle is drawn by the EFF leader Julius Malema stating that the elections results is an “opportune moment for the MK Party, EFF, Communist Party, and ANC to come together and reject the enemy forces. And that the ANC must come together to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa”. The EFF claims that the ANC is being destroyed to the core, whilst trying to protect Ramaphosa.
A stunning rebuke to the government of the day
There has been a plague of water outages, failing service delivery, and collapsing infrastructure in municipalities. A multi-party coalition is upon us, and business cannot continue as usual. Only the DA can claim majority seats in Cape Town, the rest of the metros and local municipalities would require that all parities form a stable and capable coalition committed to root out corruption and fix the broken municipal system to serve the citizens.
The next two weeks of negotiation looms – what should be done?
Nearly everyone is anticipating the DA and ANC will form a stronger coalition, especially in Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni. ActionSA is another party capable of forming a partnership with DA – but chances are slim as Herman Mashaba bluntly wishes to work with the ANC. Helen Zille wants to root out corruption, which she believes is linked to several ANC leaders. Recently, Zille visited the Pick-It-Up premises on a Friday and saw officials leaving the building in their luxury cars before the official knock-off time – she described the officials as people who do not want to work to fix the broken city of Johannesburg. Hellen cited that she doesn’t care about race, and that she wants to work with capable people who truly want to work to transform the city of Joburg.
There is no time to fumble on the intense table of critical negotiations to form what others call “Government of Local Unity (GLU)”. While Malema blames the Government of National Unity (GNU) cooperation for EFF losing support to the DA, in this volatile moment all political ideologies should take a back seat, and the focus should be on establishing strategies that serve the people and not political interests.
As much as the EFF criticises Zille for being a Joburg mayoral candidate and further accusing her of becoming boastful about taking over the city, all parties must take a hard line and enter into GLU and ensure that capable people are appointed in critical positions.
Dr Molobela is a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Management. He writes in his personal capacity.