Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said on Tuesday that he was confident that a coalition government could take control of the City of Tshwane without the Patriotic Alliance (PA).

Political parties have two weeks to form coalition governments following the November 1 local government election.

Steenhuisen said a government in Tshwane could be formed by a coalition of the DA, ActionSA, African Christian Democratic Party, the Congress of the People and the Freedom Front Plus, making up the 108 required to have a majority.

“You add the IFP into the mix, it’s another seat there but just with those five parties you can form an opposition government in Tshwane. There is a very clear path for the party in Tshwane,” he said.

Steenhuisen criticised PA leader Gayton McKenzie, saying the ex-convict was only interested in patronage networks and municipal tenders.

This comes after McKenzie announced that his party had agreed to form a coalition government with the African National Congress (ANC) in Johannesburg.

Leaders of political parties met in Sandton on Monday to work out deals in the key hung metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

“For Gayton McKenzie it is all about patronage networks and how to influence the allocation of member mayoral council positions and dispensing of jobs to his pals. This would ultimately lead to the State capture of municipal entities. Even at our meeting on Monday, Mr McKenzie was only interested in positions for his party in the council,” said Steenhuisen.

He admitted that McKenzie’s decision to form a coalition with the ANC, which was part of the meeting of opposition parties on Monday, would “narrow the path to power of opposition parties in Joburg”.

The DA had since announced that it would not enter coalitions with the ANC or Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). 

DA Federal Council chairperson Helen Zille said McKenzie was allegedly misleading people when he said the meeting of opposition parties collapsed on Monday, saying parties agreed to meet again, and in fact parties agreed to continue bilateral meetings.

“All the parties agreed to give feedback to their respective national leaders and we agreed to continue holding bilateral meetings with other parties. The meeting on Monday was to bring together all the parties we had bilateral talks with, under one roof,” Steenhuisen said.

Zille said there was no formal agreement between the EFF and the DA in Matzikama local municipality, in the Western Cape.

The DA in Gauteng also announced the election of Peter Teixeira as Mayor of Midvaal Local Municipality in Gauteng.