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Coalition talks - KZN · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You're with John Pullman on 702.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Let's walk the talk.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: 702 Drive. So the coalition talks get underway all over
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the country. There are so many different issues to resolve
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: that kind of complicate it. Down in KZN, I would
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: have thought, Tabiso Gorba is our EWN reporter. Strong focus
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: on Etegueni, where the MK party is the biggest party,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: but perhaps not as big as many people were expecting
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and possibly not as big as they were hoping for.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: So what's the state of KZN coalition talk so far?
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Tabiso Gorba has been working the phones, prowling the corridors
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and finding out what he can. He joins us now.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Tobi Saw, very good afternoon to you. What are you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: hearing there? I mean, the MK Party, obviously in a
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: dominant position, not just in Etigwini, but generally across the province,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: although the IFP have held on to some of their strongholds.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: But if we focus on Etigwini first, likely scenarios, is
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: anything taking shape?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, John. I think we talked about this a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: couple of days ago, about 2024, that in 2024, the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Omkondor Sizo Party emerged as the biggest party in KZN.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: It got 45 percent. It just needed a few, one more,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: two more parties to form a coalition government in 2024. However,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: the party got too preoccupied with challenging the election results,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and eventually they got outflanked by other parties who formed
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: a coalition government here in Utegrin, and they now have
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to sit on the sidelines. We are now in 2026,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and we are again with Dom Kondreti, the biggest party
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: here in the Itawini municipality, but they also are now
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: challenging the election results. But I did have a conversation, John,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: with the Itawini's mayoral candidates for the NK party, Nkoli Sipagati,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: who's also part of the coalition negotiation team for the
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: NK party, and he said that They've learned lessons from 2024.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: They are not going to be wasting a lot of
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: time with the challenging of results because at the end
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of the day, not a majority, the most number of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: people in Gwazulu Nadal, but also in Etegrini, have elected them.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: They've elected them and they said that, you know, you
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: need to be in government. They have 38%, John, in Etegrini.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: So that means, you know, from their standpoint of view,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: they have to be in government and they've already got
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: the ball rolling. They're still unhappy with the election results,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: but Mkoli Supaata is saying that they're not going to
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: be wasting a lot of time on that. They've already
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: started speaking with political parties. And a repeat of 2024
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: is not going to happen.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: And just finally, Tabi, so if they said, these we
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: will work with, those we won't, or is it an
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: open conversation that they're going to have and, you know,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: anyone could possibly be across the table?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Well, for the MK Party, they say that they're willing
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to work with anyone. But I understand, John, that the
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: DA has already come out and said that they won't
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: be willing to work with the MK Party under any circumstances.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: The MK Party is obviously saying that they weren't our
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: first choice when we were looking for coalition partners. But
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: other than that, the field is very much open. I think, obviously,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: there will be that question that, you know, considering that
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: the NK party broke away from the ANC, how will
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: the two parties be willing to reconcile? Because, obviously, not
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: just in KwaZulu-Natalina, not just in Ete Kwiini, but there's
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: over 30 hunk councils in KwaZulu-Natal. So when these negotiations
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: are happening, they're not just happening for one municipality. We
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: understand that a lot of parties in Eto'o, especially the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: big parties, what they want to do is they want
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to have a province-wide negotiation. So if we work in
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: one municipality, then we also work in the other 30
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: hunk municipalities across the province so that, you know, obviously
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: that relationship expands to more than just one municipality.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Tabisul Gorba. Very interesting insights coming out
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: of his conversation with the MK Party's Etigwini mayoral candidate.