Joburg and Tshwane coalition talks: What ActionSA wants from the DA

Gauteng’s three big metros voted on 4 November and came back without a clear boss. Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni all have hung councils, so the DA, even as the biggest party, needs friends. ActionSA, which pulled about 22% in Tshwane, is holding a few of the cards, Joburg Etc reports.

A Zille and Brink problem

ActionSA’s Michael Beaumont was blunt on X on Friday. The party, he said, has ‘a Helen Zille and Cilliers Brink problem’, not a DA one. He added that it won’t install mayors who have failed residents before. Party leader Herman Mashaba chimed in too, saying Tshwane’s turnaround under ActionSA-led leadership shows the DA isn’t essential.

ActionSA does not have a DA problem, we have a Helen Zille and Cilliers Brink problem.

What we will not do to the South African people is install mayors who have failed them before or broken every working coalition they were part of. https://t.co/g8vVxc0jaw

Michael Beaumont (@ME_Beaumont) November 13, 2026

The offer on the table

In a letter to DA federal leader Geordin Hill-Lewis dated 7 November, Mashaba proposed that he and Zille both step out of the Johannesburg race. The DA would pick a fresh candidate and ActionSA would take the deputy mayor’s seat. In Tshwane, Brink would give up his council seat and the DA would back ActionSA’s Nasiphi Moya as mayor, according to TimesLive. The DA took 34.79% in Johannesburg, the ANC 20.25% and ActionSA 16.27%.

This isn’t a first date. ActionSA walked out of the DA-led Tshwane coalition in September 2024, Brink was ousted in a no-confidence vote and Moya became mayor the following month. Read that way, the offer is really Joburg for Tshwane, with each side asking the other to swallow something.

Online, one X user argued that these are the only two parties with any record of working governance, which is why people want them together. Most residents will settle for working lights and a mayor who stays put.

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