The African National Congress (ANC) has not ruled out the possibility of a rerun of elections in hung municipalities where coalition governments can not be formed. Former Minister Jeff Radebe, who is part of the ANC's negotiators leading the coalition talks, said the governing party would rather wait until there are reruns of municipal elections in hung municipalities than merely settle in coalition talks. 

This as the ANC is forced to negotiate with the EFF after the DA, ActionSA, and Good all excluded the party from coalition talks. 

The country has an unprecedented number of hung councils, 66, after last week's municipal elections. 

Speaking to News24 on Monday, Radebe said if the ANC or the DA could not form coalitions, the law was clear on the way forward. 

"Legislation is very clear; if it's impossible to have the council meeting then the provincial government will take over that municipality through the provincial department of Cogta and within 90 days they will be forced to have a rerun of the elections in those municipalities," he said. 

Radebe said they are not willing to form coalition governments at all costs. 

"We are not desperate, what is important for us is that we are not just willing to just have coalitions at all cost. 

“We would like to have a normal coalition agreement with political parties with the same values and missions as us to bring about a betterment of the lives of our people. What is of paramount importance is what is of the best interest for our people," said Radebe. 

He added that while the ANC had lost its majority, the party was still the most supported as compared to all parties. 

"Even through we have got a reduced majority, as compared to the previous local government results, we are still the majority in many municipalities. 

"We control about 128 through out the country, the DA has 13. That doesn't however not mean that we take this lightly, our people have spoken and we will listen. It's a wake up call, we have to correct our faults, the greed, corruption," said Radebe. 

Last week the ANC announced that Radebe would be leading the ANC coalition talks in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) however, the talks in the province have suffered a huge blow with the IFP indicating that it would not be open to partnering with the governing party in KZN. 

The DA, ActionSA, and the GOOD party have also all indicated that they would not be aiding the ANC in its efforts to try and gain control in the 66 municipalities where a clear majority was not achieved by any party.

Radebe said by their nature, coalitions where unstable and as such the ANC would require that any party willing to go into partnership with them should sign an agreement first. 

"Well it is true that coalitions by their nature since 2016 have been unstable.

"About nine coalitions have been very dysfunctional including, Nelson Mandela Bay, Metsimaholo, Nquthu, and Inkosi Langalibalele in KZN. Six out of those nine are now under section 139 administration so there have been various challenges in governance. This is why we need to have a written coalition agreement," said Radebe. 

The ANC has also vowed to reveal the conditions upon which all the coalitions will be entered into.

"They [the conditions agreed upon] must not be secret, they must be public and they should be motivated by serving the communities that we want to serve," said Radebe. 

According to Radebe, the coalition talks have moved from talks around what the ANC wanted and whom they would approach with on the merits of the agreements. He added that the ANC did not feel like it was backed into a corner now that the DA, the IFP, ActionSA, and GOOD have shut the door on forming coalitions with it.