By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa told supporters on Monday afternoon, in Soweto, that the party was not desperate and will not enter coalition talks.
Ramaphosa said the ANC, although wounded, was still not ready to compromise and enter into coalitions just for the sake of it.
He was referring to the DA, ActionSA, and GOOD who said they will not enter into coalition talks with the ANC.
“Legislation will kick in if there is a failure to formulate councils and a rerun of elections in those hung municipalities could be forced,” said Ramaphosa.
He emphasised that the ANC would not be going into coalitions at all costs.
Ramaphosa’s sentiments echoed those expressing by former minister Jeff Radebe who said that the ANC was agreeable to allowing reruns in elections in hung councils rather than settle in coalition negotiations.
Both Ramaphosa and Radebe said what was important for the ANC was that principles that ensured that the communities were provided with service delivery would be at the forefront of the negotiations and not what benefited the parties involved.
Ramaphosa, however, did not shy away from giving an honest assessment of how the party performed during the past elections.
He said the performance was the worst in the party’s history and this was the first time since the dawn of democracy that the party had fallen below 50%. He blamed the infighting in the ANC and corruption allegations for being the catalyst of this dismal showing.
Ramaphosa also said the election had sent a clear and strong message to the ANC that it needs to do better.
The ANC needs coalition partners to govern the eThekwini, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela metropolitans, amongst many other hung municipalities.