Ganging up against ANC Lungani Zungu
DA, IFP and EFF have signed a ‘special coalition’ deal , writes
THE coalition between the IFP, the DA and the EFF in KwaZuluNatal has triggered mixed reactions from political analysts.
The parties announced this week they would gang up against the ANC in the seven hung municipalities where no outright winner emerged during the recent local government elections.
The common enemy is the ruling ANC which won 31 municipalities.
The deal between the parties will see the IFP take control of Jozini, Mtubatuba, Abaqulusi (Vryheid), Ndumeni and Nqutu, on top of the six municipalities it won outright. This includes the Nkandla municipality, President Jacob Zuma’s home town.
The remaining two municipalities Mbabazane and Mtshezi will be merged to form the Inkosi Langalibalele local municipality. It will be run by the ANC and the Al-Jama-ah party.
In the 2011 municipal polls, the ANC co-governed 19 hung municipalities with the National Freedom Party. The NFP was barred from participating in this year’s elections because it failed to pay the registration fee on time.
The deal between the IFP, the DA and the EFF is not confined to KwaZulu-Natal but applies to municipalities countrywide.
Analyst Thabani Khumalo said these “marriages” were destined for divorce, while Protas Madlala believed that they were likely to work.
Khumalo said: “Almost all the coalition governments that have been formed since the 2016 elections are not driven by common policies, common programmes or collective commitment to accelerate service delivery, but by a common goal which is to dethrone the ANC. Hence their sustainability in the next five years remains a bone of contention.”
Khumalo said he expected the IFP to “get into bed” with the ANC because they shared the same constituency.
“Such an alliance would have allowed both parties to combine their resources and efforts to better the lives of the rural poor.”
Madlala argued: “I think it would work in their favour (IFP and DA) because their ideologies are the same. And if you look closely at their policies, they don’t clash on issues. I don’t see any reason why it should not work”.
IFP national chairman Blessed Gwala said: “This deal will put the needs of the people first by eradicating poverty through the creation of sustainable jobs, attending to the housing backlog by providing decent housing, and making the provision of water and sanitation a reality”.
Leader of the DA in KZN, Zwakele Mncwango, said: “This, we believe, will be the solution to establishing well-governed municipalities that are able to create jobs, deliver better services, and bring years of corruption to a complete stop given the unique electoral outcomes earlier this month.”
EFF convener in KZN, Marshall Dlamini, said the party wanted to dislodged the ANC completely. The inaugural council sittings were ongoing and the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, was confident the process would flow smoothly.
The first council sitting of the eThekwini municipality, the only metro in the province, will take place on Wednesday at the City Hall.