Government

Ramaphosa not going anywhere as DA, ActionSA, and other coalition talks kick off

Staff Writer

 ·12 Nov 2026

The leader of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), President Cyril Ramaphosa, is not under pressure to resign, the ANC’s spokesperson said on Thursday.

This after the party’s share of the vote plummeted in last week’s municipal elections.

“The president is going nowhere,” ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu told reporters before a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee to decide on its approach to coalition negotiations.

“There is no pressure on the part of this leadership collective for the president to leave,” Bhengu added.

The ANC’s share of the vote fell to about 31% in last week’s elections, down from 46% at the last municipal vote in 2021 and a new low for the once-dominant party.

In many of the country’s major cities, like Johannesburg, no political party secured a majority, meaning coalitions will be needed to run local government there.

Bhengu dismissed as a “fabrication” a report by local news website TimesLive that Ramaphosa had considered stepping down as party leader after the election drubbing.

Former president Thabo Mbeki, in an interview on a local podcast, criticised Ramaphosa over the ANC’s performance in the election, saying it would be right for him and other ANC leaders to resign.

Mbeki has criticised Ramaphosa’s track record before, and the pair have been at odds for decades since Mbeki was chosen over Ramaphosa as Nelson Mandela’s successor.

The ANC is due to elect its next leader in December 2027, when Ramaphosa will make way after two five-year terms at the helm of the party.

Coalition talks begin

As the ANC NEC meets to discuss its coalition strategy, other parties have already begun meeting to decide the future of the country’s municipalities.

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) and ActionSA struck their first coalition deal in the Laingsburg Local Municipality, with the PA supporting ActionSA’s mayoral candidate.

ActionSA has been meeting with multiple parties since the election results were finalised, including the ANC, DA, and PA.

The party has indicated that it is willing to engage with parties across the political spectrum, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) and other smaller parties.

The DA has also been engaging across traditional red lines, having met with the EFF and setting a date to meet with the MK Party.

Despite bitter jabs between ActionSA’s leadership and the DA, the two parties also met on Thursday, which the former characterised as “constructive”.

Coalition talks will have to address a multitude of hung councils across the country, but major metros, particularly in Gauteng, have been thrust into the spotlight.

Earlier reports pointed to a possible push to keep the DA out of government in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

The DA secured the highest number of votes in all three metros. However, governance has become a numbers game.

A bloc comprising the ANC, ActionSA, EFF and MK could work together to govern all three metros.

However, this could potentially upset the balance of the Government of National Unity, where the ANC and DA are the largest governing parties nationally.

The ANC could instead opt to follow the national precedent and work with the DA in the metros and secure solid, and arguably more secure, majorities that way.

Ultimately, the way forward will depend on how the ANC NEC approaches its coalition talks.

ANC, ActionSA, EFF and MK coalition in Gauteng

DA-ANC coalition in Gauteng

DA-ActionSA coalition in Gauteng

With Reuters