The DA has stopped short of ruling out a post-election coalition with the ANC in Johannesburg, with both Cape Town mayor and federal leader Geordin Hill-Lewis and the party’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille insisting that coalition partners can only be determined once voters have delivered their verdict.
While both leaders stressed that the DA’s primary objective was to govern outright, they acknowledged that if no party secured an outright majority, every coalition scenario — including one involving the ANC — would have to be assessed on the basis of stability and good governance.
Speaking during a media engagement, Zille repeatedly refused to exclude any party from future coalition talks, saying the DA would instead pursue the “least bad option” available after the election.
“You don’t know what coalition you’re going to have until after the elections because you don’t know what options you’re going to get,” she said.
“If we don’t get to 50% plus one, we will look at the options and we will take the least bad option. They will all be bad, but we will take the least bad.”
Her remarks come amid growing speculation over coalition permutations in Gauteng ahead of the local government elections, where no single party is expected to secure an outright majority in Johannesburg.
If we don’t get to 50% plus one, we will look at the options and we will take the least bad option. They will all be bad, but we will take the least bad.
— Helen Zille
Zille said coalition negotiations would ultimately be guided by one overriding objective: delivering a stable government capable of governing without constant motions of no confidence.
“We will look at the result of the election and decide how we put together a stable government that can beat corruption and fix the infrastructure of Johannesburg in a stable way without being voted out of government on a regular basis.”
She added that stability would take precedence, alongside identifying partners genuinely committed to rooting out corruption.
“We have to bring stability and that will be the foremost consideration together with who is serious about eradicating corruption.”
Zille cautioned that coalition governments were inherently undesirable, saying the DA would rather remain in opposition than lead an unwieldy coalition made up of numerous small parties.
“Coalition is never the first prize. When you have a coalition, it’s never good.
“If we have to put together a nine-party coalition, I’m going to suggest to Geordin that we stay in the opposition.”
She argued that fragmented coalitions often become ungovernable as smaller parties focus on political leverage rather than service delivery.
“The choice is for the voters. If they want to make it difficult for us to govern properly ... if every second council meeting somebody wants to move a motion of no confidence and we can’t have an implementable plan, I’d rather be in the opposition.”
Hill-Lewis echoed those sentiments, saying the DA was focused on winning outright rather than negotiating hypothetical coalition deals.
“I still am disinclined to talk about post-election hypotheticals. For now, it’s important for the party to do everything to win and focus on persuading the public.”
However, he acknowledged that the electoral mathematics become significantly more difficult the further the DA falls below the 50% threshold.
“It’s not impossible. It is a big stretch, but it’s not impossible.
“Every percent less than that makes it exponentially harder. The difference between 48% and 47% is exponentially harder because it means we have to include a whole lot more tiny parties, and these tiny parties, in general, are not interested in issues of governance. They are interested in what they can get out of the deal for themselves.”
Significantly, Hill-Lewis also acknowledged that if coalition negotiations become unavoidable, the DA could find itself having to consider parties it has fiercely criticised for Johannesburg’s decline.
“It’s harder in the sense that the ANC, the Patriotic Alliance and, to some extent, ActionSA, have been such big parts of the rot that we see in Gauteng metros.
“It will make for very, very tough coalitions if we are forced by the electoral outcomes to have to consider coalitions with some of the people who have destroyed Johannesburg.”
Zille pointed to the Government of National Unity as an example of how political realities can force unlikely partnerships.
“We went into government with the ANC to prevent the MK Party and the EFF from taking government, but it might not replicate itself in other areas.
“We will have to look at the least worst option everywhere, and it will be different everywhere.”
Her comments are likely to fuel speculation that the DA has deliberately left the door open to working with the ANC in Johannesburg should it offer the most stable route to government, despite years of fierce political rivalry between the two parties.
Neither Zille nor Hill-Lewis committed to any preferred coalition partner, insisting that the final decision would depend entirely on the election outcome and the composition of the next council.
TimesLIVE
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