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Delays in eThekwini counting · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're with John Perlman on 702.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Let's get ourselves down to Etigwini and find out what's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: happening there. It is a very, very important and consequential
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: metro election. And we need to find out what the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: vote counting is telling us. Last time. I looked at
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the MK party, certainly well ahead in terms of being
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the largest party, but not yet certain to have complete
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: individual control over the city of Durban. Let's catch up
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: then with Tabisul Gorba. Tabisul, a very good afternoon to you. 55%
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of the votes counted. What are we looking at in
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  Speaker 1: terms of who's ahead and who's trailing?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Tabisul? Good afternoon, John. Yes, hi. Good afternoon, John. Yes,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: good afternoon. Good afternoon, John. Yes, as I said, as
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: you see it, the party is still ahead. Fifty five
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: percent of the votes counted in a take. We need
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: MK party has already won 20 wards. which I think
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: is nothing short of amazing, John. We have to take
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: into context that this is the Omkonto Isisyo Party's first
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: local government election. And I don't know, John, I've been
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: trying to think about it. I don't know any political
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: party that has had a strong debut as the Omkonto
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Isisyo Party. It has absolutely dominated KZN. You look at
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: the 13, it is leading in 13 councils. This means
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: it has the most votes in 13 councils. But out
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: of those 13 councils, it also has an outright majority
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: in three councils. And it looks like it's going to
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: emerge as the biggest party in Etequini. It might not
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: have a majority in Etequini, but you're looking at something
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: in the 40% range. And again, John, if there's ever
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: been a bigger political party with a stronger debut, I
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: don't remember it. Yeah.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: No, it certainly builds on the success they achieved in 2024.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at who else has, you know, substantial support
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: in Etigwini. The DA at 24%, but both parties, MK
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Party and the DA have made clear they're not going
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: to work with each other. The IFP with 7% certainly
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: would have something to add. And then there's the ANC
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: with 17% and, and, and action essay around 3%. So,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, those are the, those are the top five. Any,
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  Speaker 1: any sense from the conversations you're having either eavesdropping or
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: directly Tavis or Gorba that gives you some clue as
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to what the MK party is thinking at the moment. Obviously, uh,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: they're in pole position, but it doesn't mean they're going
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to win the race.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Well, I think with the MK Party, John, we know
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: how unstable it is within its own internal mechanization. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: you remember that in 2024, the MK Party got 45%
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: in KZN. There were all expectations that the MK Party
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: will be governing KZN through a coalition. However, they messed
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: up those coalition talks. You know, the ANC and the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: IFP said, you know, every second day we were meeting
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: with a new batch of people who didn't have a
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: mandate from the president of the Hong Kong Doi Siza Party.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: So I wonder if the same situation is going to
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: repeat itself in a taking away situation. the ANC, DA, IFP,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: all come together and keep the MK Party out of government,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: despite the MK Party being the most, being the party
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: with the most votes in the Tegwini. You'd like to think, John,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that the MK Party would probably have learned its lesson
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: by what happened in KZN in 2024, where it got
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: the most votes, but somehow didn't end up in government.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: You'd like to think that maybe they learned their lesson,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: but something, John, something tells me that even though the
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: NK party might emerge as the biggest party in Etegrini,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think they are going to be part of
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the government of Etegrini. But we'll just have to wait
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: and see how that unfolds in the next couple of weeks.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks very much, Tabiso Gorba. It's going to be very,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: very interesting indeed because you can do all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: maths and see if the maths math, as people would say.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: The ANC and the IFP and the DA, if they
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: were to mirror arrangements here, that they've made at the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: provincial level are still falling short. They would have 24.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: They'd have about 48%. Action SA would get them over
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  Speaker 1: the line. The EFF might be able to help them
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: do it as well. MK Party has 40%, but they've
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: got to find 10 if things stay as they are.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: How do they put that together? It's going to be
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: interesting indeed. We'll keep you posted in as much as
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: we get insights. Otherwise, we'll just keep giving you a
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: sense of the numbers and share with you what the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: experts think they might mean. 27 minutes to four.