Dirk Kotzé Drops Heavy Warning About What DA, ANC And IFP Could Do To MK Party In eThekwini

Although MK is the biggest party in the metro, political analyst Professor Dirk Kotzé claims that a coalition of the Democratic Alliance, the African National Congress, and the Inkatha Freedom Party could form a government in eThekwini without the uMkhonto weSizwe Party.

As a result, focus shifts to the coalition talks that parties will have to undertake following the 2026 municipal elections. In eThekwini, MK received the most votes (38.3%), but they were not enough to secure a majority. Reported results show that the DA came in second with approximately 25.5%, the ANC came in third with 16.4%, and the IFP came in sixth with 6.8%.

Using their experience working together at the provincial level in KwaZulu-Natal as a model, Kotzé believes the three parties could garner sufficient council support to form a government. The ANC, the IFP, the DA, and the National Freedom Party all had a hand in forming the provincial government following the 2024 elections. It is not always the case that party voting patterns in a municipal council mirror those in a provincial legislature.

Kotzé raises the question of MK’s potential response in the event that the three factions united to remove it from the eThekwini administration. Being the biggest party does not ensure mayoralty or control of council, but the party’s strong election result gives it a significant claim in negotiations. The ability of the supporting parties to form a council is crucial to the success of these outcomes.

MK has previously made it clear that it will not join coalitions if doing so would guarantee its election to office. According to Duduzane Zuma, the party’s first vice president, the party has no interest in forming coalitions in order to revive failed political parties. Potential partners may seek an alternative arrangement, which could complicate negotiations due to the party’s stance.

If the numbers keep adding up, the ANC, DA, and IFP may feel pressured to make a decision about whether or not to replicate their provincial cooperation at the municipal level. The parties should come to an agreement on who will lead, what policies they will commit to, and how duties will be divided; they may have a common goal of removing MK from power, but their priorities are different.

Coalition talks will be crucial in forming the next administration in EThekwini and 32 other KwaZulu-Natal municipalities where no party achieved an outright majority. The outcome will be determined by the newly elected council’s negotiations and votes, not by the position of a particular party in the provincial government.

The most important thing for MK is to convert its leading vote share into governing power. The question for its competitors is whether they can keep their alliance together in a municipality where their political agendas might diverge from the provincial level.

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