Will MK party be blocked from governing eThekwini?
· Citizen
As political parties begin coalition talks for municipalities across the country, an analyst says the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party could be blocked from governing the City of eThekwini.
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Andre Duvenhage told The Citizen on Monday that the coalition structure governing the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial government could also be used in eThekwini.
Although Jacob Zuma’s party has the largest share of the votes in KZN, they have previously been blocked from governing because of an ANC, IFP, SA, NFP coalition.
In the eThekwini metro, the MK party got 38.29% of the total share of the votes, followed by the DA at 25.45%. The ANC got 16.43% of the vote, and the IFP got 6.79%. The NFP got 0.07%.
The current provincial coalition would need to open its doors to other members to make up the 2.33% needed to govern the metro.
“The question is, are they going to be consistent and use that model throughout KZN? Which will have implications for the MK party, or are they going to change things? I am not sure at this moment,” Duvenhage said.
He believes the MK party weakened the ANC in eThekwini largely because of Zuma’s popularity.
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He said reports suggest the ANC in KZN wants to be closer to the MK party.
“But we also know that there is a huge fight between Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma at the highest level. We also know that the decisions that will be made will be made at the highest level, and then it will play out downwards,” Duvenhage explained.
Negotiations begin
MK party KZN provincial convenor, Willies Mchunu, told The Citizen recently that his party is intent on governing the City of eThekwini.
“How that will happen and what would need to be done in order for that to happen will be decided obviously by the number of votes and the decisions of the MK party leadership,” he said.
Mchunu said it is “painful” that the MK party is a majority party in the provincial legislature but has been locked out of the governing arrangement.
“But it’s our task to do everything that is in our power and within the law to take over the power in the provincial legislature and in the municipalities where it is feasible.”
The MK party has announced its negotiations team to discuss governing the city, and said it would work with “black parties” and progressive formations.
However, Mchunu said the party knew “those who hate us, and we will not bother them.”
“There is a party that hates us; they have made it their task to block us from going into government,” he said, without naming the party.