The ANC’s negotiations with other parties remain a closely guarded secret ahead of the Johannesburg mayoral elections on Wednesday but the ruling party says it’s confident it will unseat the DA.
Senior ANC officials were unnerved when speaker Vasco da Gama postponed the election and even threatened to take legal action.
They accused him of buying time for the DA at the expense of service delivery.
If no winner emerges from the first round of mayoral elections, the candidate with the lowest votes will be eliminated, and a runoff will decide the winner between the remaining two candidates.
The point of disagreement is should that winner just have more numbers or have at least a majority of 50% plus 1?
Da Gama is seeking legal clarity on this matter especially with the high likelihood that it will be a tight race.
But ANC Gauteng spokesperson Bones Modise sees no need to worry.
“The ANC commands the numbers followed by the da and eff – so if all of us are fielding candidates it tells you that the ANC will emerge victorious.”
The ANC has the highest number of councillors but its 50% plus one so what work is the party doing to ensure it win the runoff should it happen?
“The main concentration will be to make sure we have all our 121 councillors seated, anything beyond that we will engage as and when the situation arises.”
Meanwhile, parties are now waiting for the speaker to pronounce what majority means based on the legal advice that he postponed the election to seek.