Gauteng DA: Door still open for coalition with ANC if equal power sharing agreed upon

JOHANNESBURG - The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng said the door is still open for a coalition with the African National Congress (ANC), provided they can agree on equal power sharing.  

In 2024, talks of forming a government failed between the two parties, largely due to the DA being unhappy with the low number of portfolios the ANC was offering.  

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The ANC in Gauteng has recently been reconfigured, with the previous leadership now relegated within the party’s ranks.  

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the party was aware of the changes in the ANC provincial leadership.  

“We remain open to engaging and talking to any political party as long as they share the values that we share, and that’s for a transparent government that is aimed at delivering services to its people, ending corruption, and growing the economy at the rate that it’s supposed to be growing.”  

Msimanga said the DA Gauteng branch is encouraged by its mother body, which blocked the ANC from passing what it called an unpopular budget.  

For the first time in the country’s democratic history, the budget speech was postponed after parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) rejected the ANC’s proposal to increase value-added tax (VAT) to 17%.  

“When they have budgets coming up and we see these budgets are not talking to what we want to see happening, we will talk to other parties as well,” Msimanga said.

“We will implement a strategy where these other parties can actually be lobbied to ensure we have enough support to turn these budgets down and have budgets that are talking to what we want to do.”