SACP emerges coalition kingmaker as Solly Mapaila holds key to ANC majorities in 18 municipalities

The SACP holds enough seats to help the ANC secure governing majorities in 18 municipalities across seven provinces, giving party general secretary Solly Mapaila significant bargaining power after the party contested the elections independently.

An examination of reported council allocations identifies another two possible majorities on current estimates, potentially extending the reach to 20 municipalities as results processing continues.

SACP support for ANC not guaranteed

The arithmetic gives practical weight to Mapaila’s warning that the ANC cannot assume its alliance partner will back it in forming municipal administrations.

“There is no automatic support for any single party,” Mapaila told journalists at the national results centre on Friday.

Mapaila reportedly wanted the ANC to “reposition their own value system” before cooperation, rather than assume their alliance guaranteed support. He said the SACP could “work together with them on a comradeship basis”, provided the ANC changed its approach.

**ANC and SACP council seats **

The nationwide calculation compares each council’s ANC seats with its majority threshold, then tests whether adding SACP seats closes the gap without another partner. It excludes councils where the ANC commands a majority and those where their combined councillors fall short of the required numbers.

Limpopo supplies five qualifying councils, the largest provincial concentration, with the SACP’s representation sufficient to bridge ANC deficits ranging from one to four seats.

In Lepele-Nkumpi, the ANC’s 29 seats and SACP’s six produce 35, exceeding the 31 required for a majority on the 60-member council.

Elias Motsoaledi gives the ANC 30 seats and SACP three, producing 33 against a threshold of 31, while Lephalale’s corresponding figures produce 17 against 16.

Maruleng offers the required 14 through the ANC’s 13 and SACP’s one, while Mogalakwena’s 29 and four reach the necessary 33.

The Northern Cape contributes four councils where cooperation would deliver the minimum majority, leaving neither party any additional seat beyond the threshold for full council votes.

Ga-Segonyana’s 13 ANC councillors and two communists reach 15, while Kai !Garib’s eight and two produce the 10 required for its council.

Khâi-Ma’s five ANC seats and single SACP seat reach six, while Magareng’s four and two produce the same majority on another 11-member council.

North West supplies three further cases, including Mahikeng, where the ANC holds 34 seats and the SACP two, together reaching the required 36.

Kgetlengrivier’s six ANC seats and two SACP seats produce eight against seven required, while Ramotshere Moiloa’s 18 and one reach 19.

The Eastern Cape offers three reported allocations, led by Enoch Mgijima, where the ANC’s 31 councillors and seven communists produce 38 against the required 35.

Sundays River Valley’s eight ANC seats and one SACP seat reach nine, while Walter Sisulu’s 11 and one reach the required 12.

Three other provinces contribute one council each, extending the potential partnerships beyond the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape concentrations as the parties consider their next political steps.

In KwaZulu-Natal, uMzimkhulu’s 21 ANC seats and two SACP seats produce 23 against 22 required, while Mpumalanga’s Thembisile Hani produces 35 against 34.

Free State’s Tswelopele completes the reported list, with eight ANC councillors and one communist reaching exactly nine, the majority threshold on its 16-member council.

Current estimates add Mnquma, where 30 ANC seats and four SACP seats produce 34 against 32 required, alongside another potentially decisive Eastern Cape partnership. King Sabata Dalindyebo’s estimated 31 ANC seats and seven SACP seats produce 38 against 37 required, although both councils await reconciled allocations.