Coalition permutations for hotly-contested eThekwini have already begun
KZN’s Electoral Commission has announced eThekwini’s results will be slightly delayed due the logistics of handling such a large metro.
Thabiso Goba
Ohlange High School, Inanda in Durban. Where Nelson Mandela casted his first vote in 1994. Picture: Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
With the election race for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)’s only metro, eThekwini, set to be a closely contested one, coalition permutations have already started.
KZN’s Electoral Commission has announced eThekwini’s results will be slightly delayed due the logistics of handling such a large metro.
Early indications have the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party leading in the race; however, some political parties said data from their party agents show there won’t be an outright winner in eThekwini.
Democratic Alliance (DA)’s mayoral candidate for eThekwini, Haniff Hoosen, said his mandate is to now keep the MK Party out of the city’s government.
“When we receive the calculations, and the results start coming in, the picture will be a bit more clearer in terms of which parties can come together and create that 113-seat majority.
“What I can tell you is that the DA is going to be a big player in that process. We are definitely not going to form a coalition with the MK and that’s the promise we made before the election and that’s the promise we intend to keep.”
Meanwhile, MK Party KZN spokesperson Mkhuseli Mlengane said the organisation also has no interest in working with the DA.
"The DA knows as much as they say that we will be having a majority of municipalities, and we have no interest in working with the DA.
"The only interest we have is winning the municipalities, governing them alone as a gift to our president, who is sitting at home probably watching us now."
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the African National Congress (ANC) said it’s still too early for coalition talks, but they will keep an open mind.