LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: The voting is over, meet the power brokers who will negotiate your city’s coalition

With projections that South Africa could end up with 110 hung councils as results are finalised this week, attention will quickly turn to who will negotiate coalition agreements for the major parties.

Both the ANC and DA are reportedly centralising negotiations at head office rather than leaving it to provincial or regional structures to hammer out agreements.

At a central level, it is possible to negotiate across councils to trade for your positions and, more importantly, to embed your electoral values and promises in final coalition agreements.

For the ANC, this is difficult. Regional blocs asserted their rights as the party’s philosophy of democratic centralism struggled in the candidate selection process, as we reported here. The regional power bloc in Johannesburg, for example, “forgot” to include Reverend Frank Chikane, the reformist wing’s choice for the city mayoralty.

If the party succeeds in securing a centralised negotiating team, it is likely to include party head of education David Makhura; secretary-general Fikile Mbalula; the general manager, Febé Potgieter; and the head of elections, Mdumiseni Ntuli, who is also Chief Whip at Parliament.

The ANC will struggle to centralise coalition negotiations if it loses too much power, as local blocs will want to protect their positions and ability to dispense patronage. For many ANC members, the threat of job losses is real.

The DA is on the ascendancy, with an eye on becoming the largest party in 60 councils, party federal leader Ashor Sarupen told Daily Maverick.

This will make it easier for the party to centralise coalition negotiations, as there is more to go around, and DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis will have a stronger hand if the party lifts its game in power centres like the Gauteng metros.

Hill-Lewis could be joined by Sarupen, along with Federal Chairperson Solly Msimanga. While DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg Helen Zille no longer holds one of the top positions in the party, she is still a powerful deal-maker.

For the third-largest party, uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK), there’s only one negotiator, and that is leader and former president Jacob Zuma, who runs the party in ways he wishes he could have run the country: with an iron fist. He may be joined by parliamentary leader John Hlophe and the heir apparent, Duduzane Zuma.

At the red beret headquarters on Gandhi Square in Johannesburg, tactician and party leader Julius Malema calls the shots. He is a master negotiator and is good friends with Mbalula, so expect more ANC-EFF toenadering. Malema’s wingman is secretary-general Marshall Dlamini; his wing-woman is Leigh-Ann Matthys, the party’s deputy secretary-general.

ActionSA is likely to be a kingmaker party. National chairperson Michael Beaumont always leads its negotiations, taking his cue from party president Herman Mashaba.

The other kingmaker party is the Patriotic Alliance. The three founders lead coalition negotiations: party leader Gayton McKenzie, his special adviser and bestie Charles Cilliers, and co-founder Kenny Kunene.

The ANC, PA and EFF are South Africa’s leading patronage parties, so they negotiate for “wet portfolios”, those with rich tender budgets.

How to make your voice heard

1. As soon as your councillor is elected, ask for a community meeting to set out area concerns.

2. Ask to see the coalition agreement – it is your right and transparent coalition documents should be made public.

3. Insist on regular ward committee meetings. These are meant to be held every quarter – most people have never been invited to one. In coalitions, the political office-bearers are so busy trading in jobs, tenders and intrigue that we, the people, tend to fade into insignificance. Don’t let that happen.

DM