ANC's coalition call today: can it run Joburg without the DA?

The ANC's National Executive Committee (NEC) meets today, Thursday 12 November, to adopt its negotiating mandate for the hung councils, starting with Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni. The meeting was set for 10:00 at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni (The South African).

Going in, the Sunday Times reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa told Monday's National Working Committee (NWC) to explore a Johannesburg coalition without the DA. That is the newspaper's account from party insiders; the ANC has not announced it (Sunday Times).

No decision had been announced at the time of publishing.

What options is the ANC weighing?

News24 reports three models on the table (News24; Daily Maverick):

• A formal coalition with the DA, repeating the government of national unity at local level.
• A coalition with ActionSA, the EFF and smaller parties.
• A confidence and supply deal: the DA governs alone in metros where it is the biggest party and the ANC does the same, with each voting for the other's mayors and against motions of no confidence.

Under the third option as mooted in the NWC, the DA would run the three Gauteng metros and Nelson Mandela Bay, while the ANC took Mangaung and Buffalo City (News24). The NWC did not reach a decision on working with the DA, partly because only the NEC can make that call (News24).

Can the ANC run Johannesburg without the DA?

Only with a wide alliance. Johannesburg's council has 270 seats, so 136 are needed to govern. With final seats, the ANC, ActionSA, EFF and MK Party together reach 138, two seats over the line. The ANC and ActionSA alone have 106 (Rateweb, from IEC data).

Reported's calculation from final seats: DA 91, ANC 63, ActionSA 43, EFF 17, MK Party 15 (Rateweb, from IEC data). The IEC results dashboard has the official figures.

The DA won the most votes in Johannesburg at 34.79%, ahead of the ANC on 20.25% and ActionSA on 16.27% (Sunday Times).

What did Gauteng ANC leaders ask for?

According to the Sunday Times, Gauteng provincial leaders told the NWC they want to keep working with ActionSA in Tshwane and explore a deal with it in Johannesburg, and proposed working with ActionSA in all three metros. An insider said the ANC would still approach the DA but doubted talks would produce a Johannesburg agreement (Sunday Times).

The ANC has centralised all coalition talks under secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who said coalitions formed "council by council, without a shared programme, often proved unstable" (News24).

What are the other parties doing?

The DA is due to meet ActionSA on Thursday (The South African). It has also written to the EFF and MK Party inviting them to talks. The EFF has not responded, and MK says it will meet the DA in the next few days (Sunday Times).

All of this has to land quickly. CoGTA says metro and local councils must be constituted by 26 November 2026, when councillors elect the speaker and mayor (IOL).