EFF will trade with the DA to run your municipality, if it gets a seat at the table

The Economic Freedom Fighters will negotiate municipal coalitions with parties it refuses to work with nationally, and it wants positions and a role in running those councils in return for its support.

EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini set out the position at the National Results Operation Centre in Midrand on Thursday night, as parties began the horse-trading that will decide who governs municipalities where Wednesday’s local government elections produced no outright majority.

As Sunday World reported on 6 November, Dlamini said the party’s national refusal to work with the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus would not automatically carry over into local government.

The distinction he drew is between national government, where he said policy is made, and municipalities, where he said the work is delivery.

“We always said that when it comes to national, because that is where policy is made, that has been our position. With local government, there is no policy and no laws, so there is just service delivery,” Dlamini said. “So anyone that agrees on service delivery and prioritises our people in the townships and villages, those are people we can talk to.”

The EFF is not offering its support for free. Dlamini said the party expects to secure positions and play an active part in the administration of any municipality where it enters a coalition agreement.

“Even this time around we participated in government, and we have proved we are an organisation which has invested in governance. We are ready, but the coalition talks will inform that we are participating in government,” he said. “Our priority should be the programme of action because whatever happens, we will not give up or surrender.”

He pointed to the party’s entry into the Gauteng provincial government, where EFF provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga serves as finance MEC, as evidence of that experience. Dunga’s appointment to the provincial executive marked the first time the party held a seat in a provincial government.

Dlamini indicated the talks would not be confined to the party’s existing allies, which include uMkhonto weSizwe through the Progressive Caucus in Parliament. He also said the EFF would not work with parties it considers racist, and would not compromise on that in coalition arrangements.

For voters in the municipalities now waiting on a deal, the practical question is who holds the mayoral chain, who chairs the finance committee and whose programme sets the budget for water, refuse collection, electricity and roads. A party that takes a share of the administration rather than simply voting with a government gets a hand on those levers, and a share of the blame when the pipes stay dry.

Dlamini was direct about the party’s own result. The EFF had hoped to emerge as the country’s biggest political force and remained fourth nationally.

“We wanted to win, that is the intention of contesting elections. We are not where we wanted to be, but we are here. We wanted to be on top, number one, but we are sitting at number four nationally, and we entered the elections at number four,” he said.

Asked whether the party’s position on immigration had cost it support in townships, Dlamini said it would be irresponsible to draw conclusions before the party had analysed its performance. He said the EFF needed to examine the gap between its rural and township support, and whether young people, whom he identified as part of its core constituency, had turned out.

“It would be irresponsible of me as a leader. We would have to sit down and go through the results. There is a difference in the rural votes we are getting and the votes we are getting in the township. There are a lot of issues and dynamics we have to look at, including our constituency, which is the youth vote. Did they turn out to vote?” he said.