EFF, ActionSA support could put DA in a corner, say analysts

Political experts have warned about new unstable coalition councils which could go bust at any time, given the weak bases on which they have been formed.

That the EFF and ActionSA voted the Democratic Alliance (DA) into power in three Gauteng metros – without the party’s knowledge – should give it sleepless nights about their rivals’ real intentions.

“The DA needs to be careful because this has put the party in a corner. The unstable coalitions put together in these hung municipalities need to be watched carefully because the ANC’s lessons today are lessons for another party tomorrow,” said political analyst Sanusha Naidu.

“The fact that the EFF and ActionSA were so decisive in their move to support the DA could put it in a corner.”

She also questioned whether the ANC losses meant its members were now in favour of the EFF, as has happened at Metsimaholo in Free State, where the EFF had its first mayor, and at Mamusa in North West, where an EFF speaker was elected, albeit questionably.

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“… Or could it be that the ANC was losing urban metros to remain stronger only in the rural provinces?” Naidu asked.

Political analyst Prof Dirk Kotze foresaw trouble in the new coalitions, which could crumble in future because the EFF and ActionSA came to the DA uninvited.

“The DA’s survival would be at the whims of the EFF, which, in future, could pass a no-confidence motion against the DA should it not toe the line to the EFF and ActionSA,” he said.

“This puts the DA in a precarious situation because this was not part of its plan. The DA would be operating a minority government and that is potentially an unstable situation,” Kotze said.

“This is not a pro-DA decision by these parties, but it is an anti-ANC decision. The EFF may stay outside the coalition and do what it did in Tshwane in the past and just decide who must be in power between the ANC and the DA.”

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Naidu said the ANC and DA need to be very careful because the DA may not have the kind of luxury it wants to have now and in 2024, “because it had been haemorrhaging votes. It was itself caught unawares when it won the three metros in Gauteng”.

She added: “It’s quite frightening to think that ActionSA and the EFF could have been so strategically aligned in whatever they wanted – and the question is, what does this mean to the ANC?

“At the same time, this puts the DA in a corner if it doesn’t deliver as it finds itself hostaged or leveraged by the EFF and the ActionSA.”

– ericn@citizen.co.za