The African National Congress (ANC) will stay away from a meeting of left-wing parties on Wednesday as coalition talks gather pace following South Africa's municipal elections, in which 127 of the country's 213 councils were left hung.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula confirmed that the party would not attend the Council of the Left meeting, which brings together the South African Communist Party (SACP), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and other left-leaning parties to discuss the way forward on coalition negotiations. Mbalula said the ANC had not taken part in previous meetings of the council.

The meeting comes as parties race to form governments in hung municipalities within 14 days of the results being declared. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) declared the 2026 local government election results on Sunday, 8 November, confirming that 72 councils had an outright winner while 127 had no party with more than half the seats.

ANC weighs its options after falling to 30.7%

Nationally, the ANC won 30.7% of the vote, ahead of the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 24.24%, the MK party on 9.76% and the EFF on 6.22%. Only Cape Town will be governed with an outright majority after the DA won 56.42% of the vote there. The other seven metros will all be governed through coalitions.

The ANC failed to win any of Gauteng's three metros. In Johannesburg the DA led with 34.7%, followed by the ANC on 20.2% and ActionSA on 16.2%. In Tshwane the DA took 34.3%, ahead of ActionSA on 22% and the ANC on 20.2%. In eThekwini the MK party led with 38.3%, followed by the DA on 25.4% and the ANC on 16.4%.

Both the MK party and the EFF have previously indicated a willingness to work with the ANC, while the party remains in a government of national unity with the DA at national level, adding another dimension to its coalition calculations.

Negotiations centralised under Mbalula

The ANC has decided to centralise coalition negotiations, meaning provinces and regions of the party have little say on which parties they will coalesce with. Mbalula leads the party's coalitions task team, which also includes trade, industry and competition minister Parks Tau, finance minister Enoch Godongwana and mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe.

ANC deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane said it would be a busy week for the party as its leadership met to determine its approach, guided by the outcome of the national executive committee and the results in every municipality. Mbalula has said the ANC will officially announce its stance on coalitions on 13 November.

In Tshwane, where the DA won 74 of 214 seats, ActionSA 48 and the ANC 44, ActionSA has emerged as kingmaker. A two-party DA-ActionSA coalition would hold 122 seats, but tensions between ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba and the DA's mayoral candidate Helen Zille have left that possibility uncertain, according to political analyst Dr Levy Ndou.

The DA's federal council chair, Ashor Sarupen, said the party's federal executive had resolved to engage all political parties in coalition discussions in municipalities where no party secured an outright majority, with a focus on clean government, service delivery and the rule of law.

The newly elected councils must hold their first meetings and elect their political leaders within 14 days, leaving parties little time to settle deals that will decide who governs South Africa's cities and towns. Further detail is in Business Day's report on the ANC's decision and the African News Agency's analysis of the Tshwane contest.