By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress(ANC) says it’s ready to be an opposition party in some councils, as their numbers dwindle in the balance with finalisation of results now stands at 79 per cent of expected results.
The ANC leadership, including ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula, ANC treasurer general Paul Mashatile, and ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe addressed the media at the IEC’s national results operation centre (ROC), in Tshwane, on Wednesday afternoon.
Mashatile said the ANC who has fallen below the 50% mark nationally for the first time, is not desperate to form a coalition with any party.
“When people don’t want you, why do you follow them? We are not desperate, those who want to work with us our doors are open.
“And as you know some people have said that they don’t want the ANC. But our doors are open. We want to work with parties that want to put people first.”
“Coalitions are a mess only if they start on the wrong footing. That is why we are carefully considering how we are going to go into it,” Mashatile said.
Earlier in the day, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba told journalists that his party would not under no circumstance go into a coalition with the ANC.
Mashaba also claimed that an ANC national leader approached him “informally” on Tuesday.
However the reports by Mashaba were quickly dismissed by the ANC’s deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte.
Duarte denied that anyone in the party had approached Mashaba on forming a coalition.
By 5pm, the ANC was in the lead nationally, with just over 8 million votes, however, it was still dabbling under the 50% mark, scoring only 46.1% of the votes so far.
A team led by ANC policy head Jeff Radebe would analyse the results and make a detailed presentation to the NWC about in which municipalities coalitions or other forms of co-operation with other parties would be necessary, she said. The party would then develop a series of principles and guidelines for negotiations with other parties.