Coalition talks for hung uMhlathuze Municipality are under way. This after the African National Congress (ANC) failed to obtain an outright majority in the uMhlathuze Municipality, only receiving 27 seats in the council on the ground.
SABC Digital News Producer Philile Nzimande spoke to voters and counsellor elect.
Voters have expressed mixed feelings about the elections and their new leadership.
“Yes, I’m very happy and I feel there will be a big change,” says one voter.
“I’m disappointed with my vote. I feel that my vote could have gone a different way,” says another voter.
“I’m very happy because there will be change since a new party will take over,” says another voter.
The African National Congress (ANC) has failed to obtain an outright majority in the uMhlathuze Local Municipality, only receiving 27 seats in the council, meaning a coalition is on the cards.
DA councillor-elect Christo Botha, says, “We are over the moon. We are very happy with the results that we achieved. We set out a clear campaign goal and we are very happy that we received 100% of our set-out goals”
IFP councillor-elect Bhekingcebo Xulu, says, “We are pleased with the outcome. We can see people came out and voted for us.”
Community leader, Thandabantu Vundla, says, “To me, the results indicate that the voters are not satisfied with a lot of things happening in the community with service delivery and everything, in fact in all sphere’s of government particularly local government”
According to the results announced by the Electoral Commission, the if the ANC are to govern in some municipalities, they will need to enter into coalition with other political parties.
Botha says, “At this stage, we understand that we are heading to a possible coalition government in uMhlathuze. At this point in time, I don’t want to speculate. Talks are being held by our national leaders. They know that we have made certain promises to our voters and the residents of uMhlathuze and they’ll make sure that the outcome of those negotiations will take all those aspirations of the residents into account and the promises that we made. So, I’m confident that our national leaders, the DA and the other coalition parties, will come to the right decision and we’ll have an excellent and successful outcome for the benefit of the residents of uMhlathuze.”
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has dominated in most municipalities in the region. They have secured 23 seats in uMhlathuze, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 8 seats, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) with 6 seats.
Coalition talks for hung uMhlathuze municipality are under way.
LGE 2021 I Coalition talks for hung uMhlathuze Municipality under way:
