LOCAL ELECTIONS 2026: Smaller parties in eThekwini set their sights on holding the balance of power

If Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party does well in eThekwini in the local government elections on Wednesday, the real horse-trading will begin after the votes are counted. Still, ratepayers are asking whether power shifts will improve service delivery failures.

In eThekwini, if MK trounces the African National Congress as pollsters predict, the coalition partners running the KZN government will look to a handful of small parties that will hold the keys to the City and its R75-billion budget.

The mayor, Cyril Xaba (ANC), has spent his two years in office trying to project the City as a haven for investment, assuring business and ratepayer organisations that the City is determined to root out corruption. 

The outcome of the elections in eThekwini will be watched closely: the poll takes place against the backdrop of violent xenophobic protests that have at times morphed into frustrations ranging from joblessness to billing problems and City corruption.

In KZN, the Inkatha Freedom Party, ANC and Democratic Alliance govern the provincial legislature in a coalition that is a whisker away from MK control.

In eThekwini, the ANC controls the City with 95 of its 224 seats.

As MK threatens a shake-up, smaller parties are positioning themselves as kingmakers in eThekwini.

​Water crisis

Most electioneering in eThekwini has focused on the City’s water crisis and (among its opponents) the threat of MK wresting control of the City.

After reports of MK in chaos, an ailing Jacob Zuma proved to supporters at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu at the weekend that he could still sing and dance.

​But will his party secure enough votes to run eThekwini, alone or in a coalition, and what will that mean for residents?

​MK’s mayoral candidate, Mxolisi Phakathi, has promised unspecified radical change if the party wins.

​Asad Gaffar, chairman of the eThekwini Ratepayers’ Protest Movement (ERPM), doesn’t believe MK will win a majority in the City.

​ERPM is fielding 41 candidates across eThekwini and could be among a host of small parties that play a key role after the count.

Gaffar said ERPM, a civic movement, had not abandoned its roots. “But to fix the issues we need a seat at that table.”

​ERPM popularised the water issue in Durban and Gaffar predicted it would remain the City’s priority, regardless of who was in charge.

“We asked the City to declare water a crisis. They refused; they called it a challenge. Now, we are sitting in a situation where taps are dry, and the infrastructure is collapsing at an alarming rate. 

“There are more than 3.5 million residents in eThekwini. There isn’t sufficient water. So that’s the number one priority. Water revenue must be ringfenced for water. In eThekwini, the City’s biggest revenue generator is water resale. We shouldn’t be sitting with the problems we have.”

About who might run the City, Gaffar said: ​“I may be wrong, but I think MK is hyped. They won’t get a majority. Whoever does: I hope more independents will get elected to create some serious new computations.”

​The smaller parties could act as a bloc, he added, if they weren’t seduced by big parties’ promises of positions on council committees.

Disruptors

Political analyst Xolani Dube’s Xubera Institute has hosted public debates in Durban since 2005, discussing governance and accountability.

This week, Dube invited eThekwini minority parties to a gathering to flesh out their public commitments before they struck deals.

​“The future of Durban is in the hands of about 10 small parties. They are the disruptors. They will decide whether an MK bloc or a DA bloc runs Durban. There will be deal-making second to none with those small parties,” he said.

“All politicians are opportunists,” he added. “Most are squanderers. We need a functioning municipality, regardless of their scheming.”

​Gaffar, however, was optimistic. “We have a Constitution that protects administrative government. No party can run free without being held to account. Government is supposed to work, whoever is in power.”

‘Council is like a bakery’

​Imtiaz Syed leads the Active Citizens Coalition, which he founded in 2021. He holds one of the party’s two council seats in eThekwini and was part of a bloc that put the ANC in power in the city after the last elections.

​The ANC secured Syed’s support, along with that of other smaller parties, including Philani Mavundla’s Abantu Batho Congress. Mavundla is set to repeat his power broker role, but now as an MK ally.

Syed has done his numbers for 2026. His opponents might not agree, but he says: “A party with six seats (56,000 votes) is a kingmaker in eThekwini.

“Look, the council is like a bakery with 224 loaves of bread. To own the bakery you need 113 loaves (51%). If two sides (an MK bloc versus an ANC/DA/IFP bloc) each have 80 loaves, neither owns the bakery.”

​Smaller parties were being wooed by bigger parties now, but Syed advised them to hold out until the votes are counted.

​”A loaf of bread that went for a pittance will cost a lot more after the elections. The big guys will scoop up the loaves. They own some already. The magic number is 113.”

Syed remembers the late-night, backroom deals of 2021, when politicians were asked to leave their cellphones outside.

​“I don’t want to be part of any small bloc deals now. Let the cards fall, and then we can make an informed decision.”

​What price will he put on his bread?

​“I am after three things. The first is an agreement that 25% of rates raised in wards are spent in those wards. In Durban, of the 1.13 million households, 49% pay rates. They contribute 80% of the City’s operational budget. I don’t care who runs the City. I am pro-poor, but I want 25% back.

“My second demand is that 50% of rates derived from industrial areas must be spent in the areas they are raised.

“The third thing I want is rental boards to protect indigent tenants.”

Another minor party candidate is Hassan Motala, whose People’s Freedom Party (PFP) has a single seat in eThekwini and predicts five seats would make a smaller party a kingmaker.

Asked who he will throw his lot in with if the PFP gets elected, he laughed: “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Maybe we should go with the will of the people, the party that gets the most votes. We will look at which portfolios (committee chairs) we can get. We are not looking for the mayor or deputy mayor’s post. The big parties have approached us … anything is possible.” DM