WE WILL meet somewhere! These were the words of former president Jacob Zuma when he resigned as the country’s head of state.
In startling performance in the polls, Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has proven to be a force to be reckoned with as they toppled the ANC from being the governing party in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
This exceptional performance saw his party being the third largest opposition party in the country, replacing the red berets.
This compelled some of the ANC leaders in the province and outside going to Zuma to talk about a coalition government, post elections.
An insider closed to the MKP told Saturday Star Ubaba (Zuma) had few conditions he was not going to back down on if the ANC wanted to talk about a coalition.
“Ubaba only wants a few things. He wants Cyril Ramaphosa and Pravin Gordhan out. The establishment of a bank commission, land expropriation without compensation, and also to commit on opening military bases for young unemployed people,” the insider said.
The MKP was last night leading in KZN. During Zuma’s tenure as ANC president he raised the party’s support to over a million.
Since the ANC, which he served for years, treated him unfairly, he has been working tirelessly to bringing it down to below 50% and removing its parliamentary majority for the first time.
The MKP’s triumph over both the ANC and the IFP created a huge headache for the Multi-Party Coalition, meaning that the DA, IFP coalition was unlikely to achieve the 50%-plus they had been aiming for.
This also means the ANC’s plan that should it dip below 50%, it would form a coalition with smaller parties also went out the window.
The possibility of the party losing its majority had resulted in some party stalwarts choosing the DA as a possible candidate for the party to be in coalition with.
However, there has been a push back in the national executive committee (NEC), which is dominated by a younger cohort who would rather have an EFF-ANC coalition.
The DA federal chairperson, Helen Zille, also ruled out the possibility of a DA/ANC coalition, saying if they had to choose they would choose a better candidate than the ANC and MKP.
EFF leader Julius Malema also said if the ANC wanted to talk coalition government with the party it must be willing to part ways with Ramaphosa.
The Star