Parties in secret talks on coalitions
Insiders spill beans on behind-the-scenes discussions with UDM and United Front
THE municipal elections tomorrow will be a two-horse race between the ANC and DA in Nelson Mandela Bay, but party leaders are already jostling behind the scenes and holding secret talks with smaller parties – the real game-changers – who are expected to swing the majority vote.
While the ANC and DA have publicly fobbed off any talk of coalitions, saying they are in it for the win in the Bay, party insiders said there were behind-the-scenes talks with the UDM and United Front (UF) about possibly joining forces.
They are all vying for control of City Hall in what is, arguably, the most hotly contested local government elections post-1994.
Special voting in the Bay got under way incident-free yesterday, and more voters who applied to cast special ballots will vote today.
Should the DA and ANC both fail to win an outright majority, the DA is said to be keeping the deputy mayor post open as a strategic tool to lure either the UDM or UF to join forces in the council.
In 2011, the ANC received 51.9% of the vote, and the DA 40.2%. The UDM received just 0.5%.
Talks between the DA, UDM and UF are said to be taking place at a national and local level.
Five insiders, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the secret discussions were deemed highly sensitive and could upset voters, said the UDM was expected to perform better at the polls tomorrow than in 2011.
It has campaigned more aggressively than ever before over the past few months and welcomed hundreds of disgruntled ANC members into its fold.
The UDM has also been bolstered by its Ward 30 by-election win in August last year, when it snatched the former ANC stronghold away from the party.
The UDM also appeared to have more resources this time as it has been dishing out food parcels to its supporters.
Its Bay election budget is said to be in the region of about R3-million.
Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana said it would make sense for the UDM – a party without a real chance of winning a majority in the metro – to consider joining forces with the DA in exchange for a deputy mayor position.
“There are no serious ideological differences between the two parties,” he said.
“If the DA cannot get the numbers anywhere else, it would place the UDM in a very good bargaining position.
“But there’s that discomfort thing about race, as [UDM mayoral candidate Mongameli] Bobani was called a ‘bobbejaan’ by one of their own.
“However, the UDM is not a strongly ideological party – it is more about practical things ... and Bobani hasn’t had a strong anti-racism rhetoric in his campaigning.”
A DA insider said: “There have been discussions about Bobani possibly getting the deputy mayor position, but it all depends on the outcome of the elections.
“If the DA doesn’t get 51% and the ANC doesn’t win outright, and the UDM gets a good enough chunk of the votes, the negotiations will intensify.”
Another DA party leader
said there had been informal discussions with the UF, particularly as there was a relatively good relationship between the DA in the Bay and the UF’s Zanoxolo Wayile, who is at number one on the UF’s PR list.
A third insider said the UDM was holding secret talks with a number of parties, including the DA, ANC and EFF.
While there is no evidence to suggest that the DA has been talking to the EFF about joining forces, the EFF expect to be kingmakers in the elections.
The EFF’s national leaders have not discounted any coalition talks, saying they would form coalitions with anyone but the ANC, and that it would be a “coalition of a special type” where they would have to agree on shared principles.
Bobani has rubbished claims about coalition talks, saying his party is expecting an outright win.
“The UDM is not in negotiations with any party. We cannot count our eggs before they hatch,” he said.
DA mayoral candidate Athol Trollip also denied having any discussions with Bobani about the deputy mayorship position.
“I can tell you that, as a party, we have said that we are not going to discuss anything about coalitions until the end of the elections,” he said.
“I’m the mayoral candidate, the provincial leader and the chairman of this party at a federal level, so there have been no such arrangements or offers made to anybody.
“We are in this to get a 50% plus one majority.
“As [DA leader] Mmusi Maimane said, we are only going to discuss a penalty shootout if it’s necessary, and there’s still enough time.
“Twelve days are provided to have those discussions – we’re certainly not having them before,” Trollip said.
The UF’s Bay regional secretary, Mkhuseli Mtsila, said while they had not received any formal invitations to discuss coalitions, they had been approached informally “to talk”.
“There are people we see at meetings who say, informally, that we need to talk, but it remains informal. There is nothing tangible or fixed,” he said.
“However, we are not opposed to any talks about coalitions.”
Yesterday, voters trickled into stations across the metro to cast their special votes.
Some of the stations visited were relatively quiet, with only a handful of voters making their way to cast their ballots.
Sylvia Ross, 80, who voted at Summerstrand’s Cheshire Homes with her husband, Sandy, said: “I’m very relieved I cast my vote. This is going to be a tough election.
“We will pray that God gives us the right person to lead this city.”
Trollip, who visited a few of the stations, said: “Special voting day is like a dry-run of election day – it is a very important day.”
About 4 700 police will be deployed at the polling stations across the province from today.
Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga said: “We completed our operational plan ahead of time and are ready to deploy police members from [today].
“All the areas where we experienced problems during voter registration weekends will be closely monitored.
“We have ensured that additional manpower and reserve forces are available to deal with any contingency or crisis that might require our intervention.”
Ntshinga said normal policing would not be affected. – Additional reporting by Gareth Wilson