DA And MK Party Sit Down Together In Midrand — After Both Swore They Never Would

After weeks of publicly rejecting the idea of a possible governing arrangement, representatives from the Democratic Alliance and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party met in the same boardroom on Saturday, November 14, 2025, making Midrand the most politically charged address in South Africa.

A formal invitation was extended to MKP figurehead and former president Jacob Zuma earlier this week by DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis, and the party accepted. The national negotiator of the MKP, Advocate Dali Mpofu, is currently guiding his delegation through exploratory talks to ascertain whether the two ideologically opposed movements can come to reasonable agreements. There are still major policy voids since neither side has agreed to anything.

After sources close to both factions broke their silence on Friday evening, SABC News confirmed the gathering. Spokespeople for both groups declined to lay out particular demands, and no joint statement has surfaced. Even though the DA is the biggest single bloc in Johannesburg’s council, with 91 out of 270 seats, it cannot govern alone without other parties.

A splintered landscape emerged from the local government elections held on November 4th. All major formations were stripped of their outright authority as 127 municipalities returned hung councils. Of the seats in Johannesburg, 63 were won by the ANC, 43 by ActionSA, 17 by the EFF, and 15 by the MKP. Given Saturday’s numbers, the DA’s strategy of building governing coalitions in previous cycles—which involved completely ignoring the MKP and Economic Freedom Fighters—in the name of governance concerns seems inadequate.

As Mpofu and two junior delegates entered the Midrand conference facility through the glass entrance just after 09h00, the onlookers, who included a small group of journalists and a few construction workers enjoying a tea break, fell visibly silent, as if something historically unlikely had just become real. Mpofu was holding a leather-bound folder.

It is still completely unclear if these initial discussions lead to a long-lasting Johannesburg government or if they fail due to competing platforms. Before any framework becomes legally binding, it must be ratified by the leadership bodies of both parties. Voters who supported these parties in November because they offered different plans for South Africa’s future may still be wondering: whose mandate will any coalition truly uphold?

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