A GREAT deal of jostling for Cabinet posts between political parties has already begun ahead of the May 29 national and provincial elections.
Recently, EFF president Julius Malema announced that if the governing ANC got less than 50% of the vote he would consider getting into bed with the party to form a coalition on condition that they agreed to elect his deputy, Floyd Shivambu, as finance minister.
The opposition, the DA, has also shown an interest in teaming up with the ANC, holding in contention their interest in keeping the Western Cape they have been governing for years.
However, the contentious province is in the eye of opposition parties that have emerged as threats to the DA. These include The Patriotic Alliance (PA), led by controversial Gayton McKenzie and Patricia de Lille’s GOOD Party, that have shown an interest in ruling the Western Cape with its capital, Cape Town.
The Star heard that there had been negotiations between the GOOD Party and the ANC, while trying to rope the PA into their coalition to boot out the DA, giving either McKenzie or De Lille the premiership.
De Lille is already in a partnership with the ANC after being given the Minister of Tourism Cabinet post after the last elections in exchange for support.
Speaking to The Star yesterday, De Lille kept her cards close to her chest, saying they were only prepared to speak to other parties after the elections, if needed.
She said: “The voters will decide and I put my faith in them.”
However, GOOD Party members who were campaigning in Cape Town confirmed to The Star that talks were under way and the GOOD Party leader was gunning for the premiership.
De Lille, who was once mayor of the Mother City, previously reportedly said that she would like to have the premiership.
On the other hand, PA spokesperson Steve Motale in a telephonic interview with The Star said his party was willing to have a coalition conversation with anybody.
The PA and GOOD Party have rocked the DA’s boat in the Western Cape with the coloured vote.
On Tuesday, Independent Media reported that the PA received a boost in its attempt to challenge the DA in the province, which would propel them into not just a kingmaker position, but as a contender to govern the province after the May 2024 elections.
The party announced that five smaller parties had pledged to support it and to ensure that their members voted for the PA.
Advieskantoor, Karoo Gemeenskaps Party, Witzenberg Aksie, Oudtshoorn Gemeenskaps Inisiatief and Karoo Democratic Force announced their allegiance to McKenzie.
The leaders of the parties opted not to contest the elections but rather campaign in favour of the PA, the party said in a statement.
The PA said: “Each of these parties was confirmed in the 2021 elections as influential and having a strong community-based constituency. The PA has emerged as a unifier politically in the Western Cape, in particular, and threatens the dominance of both the ANC nationally and the DA in the province, with numerous coalition governments on the cards.
“We strongly believe that the support of the PA province-wide is highly underestimated, as demonstrated by our consistently strong showing in by-elections where we outperform the DA.”
At the weekend, the Weekend Argus, The Star’s sister newspaper, reported that The DA was jittery that smaller parties could eat into its majority in the province and even “scupper its grip on power should they form alliances”.
DA leader John Steenhuisen called on his supporters to be wary of small parties that were likely to dismantle its power in the province in the elections next month.
Steenhuisen warned supporters at the party’s manifesto launch in the Western Cape that, unlike the rest of the country, in this election, the biggest enemy of progress in the Western Cape was not the ANC.
“In this province, the biggest risk to continued progress is complacency and the political opportunists in small parties who seek to exploit that complacency to line their own pockets,” said Steenhuisen.
“Instead of fighting to fix the eight ANC provinces that have been smashed to pieces, the political mercenaries in parties like the Patriotic Alliance, Rise Mzansi, GOOD, and the National Coloured Congress are obsessed with trying to break the one DA province that works,” Steenhuisen said.
The Star