eThekwini: MK wins 86 of 223 seats
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on IOL
Illustrative image · Edmond Dantès · Pexels · Licence PexelsThe MK party came first in the municipal elections in eThekwini with 86 of the 223 seats, without reaching the majority of 112 councillors. Negotiations must determine the future municipal administration, with a coalition between the ANC, the DA and the IFP deemed likely by analyst Zakhele Ndlovu.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, a South African political party, won 86 of the 223 seats on the eThekwini municipal council, without reaching the majority set at 112 seats. The result opens negotiations between the parties to form the next municipal administration, IOL reports.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) won 57 seats, ahead of the African National Congress (ANC) with 37 and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) with 15. The DA has ruled out a coalition with the MK, while political analysts Zakhele Ndlovu and Jabulani Nyawo, of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, consider a coalition between the ANC, the DA and the IFP — partners in the Provincial Government of National Unity in KwaZulu-Natal — to be likely. ActionSA could also join this alliance, according to Zakhele Ndlovu.
The choice of a coalition comes as no party alone holds the 112 seats needed to govern eThekwini. Jabulani Nyawo considers that the absence of an absolute majority makes a coalition administration necessary and stresses that the ANC, the DA and the IFP already govern together at provincial level in KwaZulu-Natal.
The result follows the DA's exclusion of any coalition with the MK, announced on 6 November. It also follows the MK's negotiations with the ANC in eThekwini, announced on 8 November.
