Exclusive: Coalition Talks Between ANC And DA Started Before Election

The ANC, which came into power in 1994 as a revolutionary party after winning the fight against apartheid, produced South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela. It has won every South African election since then.

The ANC will be forced to share power for the first time in 30 years after its performance in the just-concluded general elections. It won just 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament, giving it a vote share of 40%. This is the ANC’s worst election performance since it liberated South Africa from apartheid rule in 1994.

The main opposition party, the DA, secured 87 seats (21.77%), while the Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK), led by former President Jacob Zuma, came third with 14.59% votes. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by another former ANC member, Julius Sello Malema, got 10.31% votes.

ANC’s loss of absolute majority has been attributed to several factors, chief of which include an internal conflict within the party that led to the formation of breakaway parties like the MK, founded by former President Jacob Zuma and the EFF, led by former ANC Youth League Chairperson Julius Malema.

While media reports say that coalition talks have started after the polls, a letter shared with West Africa Weekly shows that the ANC and the DA had secretly been in talks since March 2024, weeks before the election. Our source, who is privy to the arrangement, said talks are still ongoing between both parties.

It may come as a shock to spectators that Cyril Ramaphosa, once a protégé of Nelson Mandela, would lead his party into a marriage with the Democratic Alliance, which is widely viewed among black South Africans as the successor to the Apartheid-era National Party. However, such an arrangement is not without precedent. Recall that Nelson Mandela’s government of national unity included several members of the displaced apartheid government, including F. W. de Klerk, who served as Vice President.

John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA, has openly hinted that a coalition with Ramaphosa’s ANC is possible. He dismissed any possible coalition with two other opposition parties, the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), over “ideological differences”.

While preparing party supporters for a possible coalition with the ANC, Steenhuisen said: “The DA’s federal executive has unanimously adopted a resolution to initiate exploratory talks with other political parties that share a commitment to the South African constitution, to identify options for the formation of governments at the national and provincial level where no party has obtained an outright majority.”

The ANC has also said that it is keeping its options open. The party’s Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, said at a Press Conference on Sunday, “We are talking to everybody”. He added: “Those who want to work together will constitute the government.”

Political Analysts say one of DA’s conditions for entering into a coalition with the ANC may be Steenhuisen becoming the Vice President. Some analysts believe that this could potentially open a path for Steenhuisen to become South Africa’s first white president since the fall of apartheid.

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