ANC's Masuku sets terms for Johannesburg coalition talks after 4 November 2026 municipal vote

Loyiso Masuku, the ANC's Johannesburg mayoral candidate, set out her party's terms for coalition talks after voting on 4 November.

The ANC's terms

Masuku, the ANC's regional chair, spoke to reporters at Mulbarton Primary School in Johannesburg South. She said the party was "not working for a coalition" but to govern.

Her case against power-sharing is about time. Coalitions delay service delivery because budgets and council processes get held up, she said, and mayors face motions of no confidence. "The City of Johannesburg cannot afford a coalition," she said. Masuku said the revolving mayoral door in Johannesburg is a result of coalitions. A sole mandate, she argued, lets residents judge a party against its promises five years later.

If the council is split, she said the ANC would talk to every party "the way the national coalition was done", provided a partner's programme covered basic services, financial sustainability, governance, a cleaner and safer city, ethical conduct and a capable state. She also said any coalition agreement must be made public, and that the ANC supports the coalition bill because it speaks about regulating coalitions.

Why Johannesburg may be hung

Polls cited by TimesLIVE put the ANC in Johannesburg at 28% to 35% and the DA at 26% to 32%, which would leave neither with a majority.

In the 2021 local elections the ANC won 45.59% of the national vote, the DA 21.62% and the EFF 10.32%, according to Rio Times. In the 2024 national vote the ANC took 40.18% and 159 of 400 National Assembly seats, 42 short of the 201 needed to govern alone, then formed a unity government with the DA.

Small parties, big bargaining power

South Africa has no electoral threshold, and Al Jama-ah previously took the Johannesburg mayoralty with a single council seat, 702/CapeTalk's Mandy Wiener told EWN. "That means that smaller parties really hold this kingmaker role," she said.

Wiener said small parties can be offered seats on mayoral committees in exchange for support. She cited the previous Gauteng local elections, where influence in Ekurhuleni was traded for backing in Tshwane. She expects "some unlikely bedfellows" in the metros.

Who negotiates

The ANC and DA are reportedly centralising negotiations at head office rather than leaving them to provincial or regional structures, Daily Maverick reported. A likely ANC team could include David Makhura, Fikile Mbalula, Febe Potgieter and Mdumiseni Ntuli. Centralising is harder for the ANC where regional blocs hold power: the Johannesburg region left Reverend Frank Chikane, the reformist wing's pick for the mayoralty, off its list.

Ashor Sarupen, described by Daily Maverick as the DA's federal leader, told the outlet the party is eyeing becoming the largest party in 60 councils. The same report said MK's only negotiator is Jacob Zuma, Julius Malema calls the shots for the EFF, and Michael Beaumont leads for ActionSA. It added that the Patriotic Alliance's talks are led by Gayton McKenzie, Charles Cilliers and Kenny Kunene, and identified the ANC, PA and EFF as South Africa's leading patronage parties, so they negotiate for "wet portfolios", those with rich tender budgets.

What happens next

The Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill (B23-2026) is before Parliament. According to Parliament, it proposes mandatory written coalition agreements and longer timeframes for calling first council meetings and appointing mayoral committees, with public comment open until 27 November 2026. The legislation has not taken effect, so it does not govern the coalition talks after this vote.