PRETORIA, Gauteng — ActionSA coalition negotiations have entered a critical phase as the party’s leadership outlines strict conditions for forming stable municipal governments across South Africa’s hung councils. Following the official gazetting of the election results, municipal councils have a strict 14-day period to be constituted.
With approximately 138 to 139 metropolitan and local municipalities—representing about 65% of all councils—failing to produce an outright majority, coalition arrangements are now mandatory. To guide this complex process, the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department has issued new coalition guidelines aimed at ensuring stability and cooperative governance.
ActionSA’s Core Conditions for Partnership
ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont confirmed that the party has engaged in a comprehensive program of meetings across the political spectrum. Beaumont emphasized that ActionSA will only coalesce with parties that align on a strict agenda: delivering services to everyone, ensuring stable government, fighting corruption, addressing illegal immigration at the municipal level, and ending the disruptive “merry-go-round” of mayors.
While initial discussions have been high-level, Beaumont stressed the need to decentralize talks to the provincial level, arguing that local players best understand the specific community issues and dynamics required to form functional governments.
The DA, Red Lines, and the Gauteng Metros
ActionSA’s leadership recently held what Beaumont described as a productive, professional, and mutually respectful meeting with the Democratic Alliance (DA). While ActionSA is open to working with the DA in various municipalities, Beaumont clarified a specific leadership red line regarding the Gauteng metros: the party does not have a “DA problem,” but rather a “Helen Zille and Cilliers Brink problem.”
Beaumont cited Zille’s track record of collapsing working coalition governments in Johannesburg and Brink’s tenure, which he argued brought Tshwane to its knees, comparing her to other failed mayors of the past. ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba proposed that both leaders step aside to allow the two parties to cooperate successfully.
ActionSA remains available to work with either the DA or the ANC in Johannesburg and Tshwane, provided Zille and Brink are not the mayoral candidates. Beaumont noted that Dr. Nasiphi Moya and Herman Mashaba are emerging as consensus candidates, with many parties recognizing the need for their continuity of leadership to turn failing cities around.
Breakthrough in Nelson Mandela Bay
A major development has emerged in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. Led by Athol Trollip, ActionSA’s negotiating team is enthusiastically participating in talks with the DA. The DA currently holds 53 seats, and ActionSA’s 2 seats would bring the coalition to 55. While this is still short of the 61 seats needed to control the 120-seat council, it marks a crucial step forward in ending the ANC’s poor administrative record and the metro’s history of mayoral instability. ActionSA has indicated its willingness to rally behind the DA’s mayoral candidate, Retief Odendaal.
Kingmaker Status in Limpopo and the North West
Beyond the major metros, ActionSA is leveraging its strong provincial performance. The party secured 61 seats in Limpopo and 51 in the North West. In municipalities like Polokwane, ActionSA’s performance pushed the ANC below 40%, giving ActionSA the balance of power. Beaumont emphasized the party’s goal to install highly capable mayors in these provinces to prove that their previous leadership successes were not a fluke.
Engaging the MK Party in KwaZulu-Natal
In KwaZulu-Natal, ActionSA has held impressive engagements with the MK party, which is the largest political force in the eThekwini municipality. Beaumont praised the MK party for focusing on service delivery alignment rather than mere political position-hoarding. The MK party also acknowledged ActionSA’s eThekwini mayoral candidate, Zwakele Mncwango, as a highly knowledgeable and experienced leader.
Beaumont confirmed that ActionSA is entirely open to forming a coalition with the MK party, the ANC, or any other grouping in the province, provided they align on the core issues of service delivery, stability, and anti-corruption.
Crunch Time for Local Leadership
With council meetings scheduled for Thursday next week, the clock is ticking. Beaumont warned against central “horse-trading” for the nearly 140 hung councils, insisting that local dynamics and local leaders must drive the negotiations.
Highlighting the urgency, Beaumont pointed to Lanesburg in the Central Karoo, where ActionSA is the largest party and has already secured the Patriotic Alliance’s support for their candidate, Beverly Foster. As the 14-day deadline approaches, ActionSA is pushing for decisive announcements to provide the certainty and stable leadership that South African citizens demand.
