The Kingmaker in Pretoria

Freedom Front Plus’ mayoral candidate for the Tshwane Metro, Willie Spies, is an influential player in the city’s leadership race.

Recent polling from The Common Sense and the Social Research Foundation showed that the DA leads the race in the city among likely voters, with 43%.

The ANC ranked second at 32%, with the Freedom Front Plus polling at 8%, ActionSA at 7%, and the EFF at 5%.

Political analyst Frans Cronje said that this polling result is significant, as the Freedom Front Plus and DA have enough support to form a coalition with over 50% of the vote.

He argued that if the election were to take place now, the DA and Freedom Front Plus would have most likely been in discussions.

“They would have most likely been hammering out how to put that city back together again as a joint government,” he said.

However, there is still a long time before the local government elections, and a lot can happen in that time.

One example is the news that the former Freedom Front Plus Tshwane Caucus Leader Grandi Theunissen has joined the DA.

“Leaving a party of which I have been a member since 1994 is a difficult decision. As chairperson of the FF+’s largest region, I worked hard to grow the party,” he said.

“However, between 2023 and 2024, the FF+ voted to topple several DA mayors in the Western Cape.”

“Cilliers Brink and I promised each other that we would not allow this kind of politicking to jeopardise our own coalition here in the Tshwane metro.”

Theunissen’s move came after he was voted out as the FF+’s Tshwane Caucus Leader following his decision to side with the ANC and EFF on a crucial issue.

This issue was the controversial new development in Groenkloof, which the Groenkloof Residents’ Association is opposing.

What was striking was that he went against his own party on the issue, which FF+ leader Corne Mulder described as unacceptable.

FF+ members told Newsday that this decision was perplexing and may have to do with Theunissen feeling sidelined by Spies’s selection as the mayoral candidate.

They also alleged that Theunissen actively hampered Spies’ campaign in Pretoria, and that his departure is good news for Spies.

They said that Spies will have more freedom to campaign and gain votes in the city, which has been a core battleground for the Freedom Front Plus.

As it can potentially be the third-largest party in the Tshwane Metro, Spies will be a core player in coalition discussions.

He may well play a central role in deciding who the next mayor of the City of Tshwane will be, giving him significant negotiating power.

Cilliers Brink comments on potential coalition governments

Cilliers Brink, the DA’s mayoral candidate in the City of Tshwane, said their polling aligns with the Social Research Foundation’s.

Should this support be similar in the local government elections, it would mean that the DA would have to form a coalition to govern the city.

He was scathing towards the ActionSA, a potential coalition party, saying that it was a spoiler party which sells out to the ANC and corrupt tenderpreneurs.

He claimed that ActionSA mayoral candidate Nasiphi Moya was not in control and was fronting for an ANC-EFF coalition.

Brink added that voting for smaller parties like ActionSA, Rise Mzansi, BOSA, Good, or the ACDP leads to coalition chaos and gridlock.

Brink did not discuss a potential coalition with the Freedom Front Plus. However, he previously said he was committed to working with the party.

When it came to the Groenkloof issue, he said he was surprised that the FF Plus voted in favour of the development, as the party had driven a petition against it.

“Be that as it may, I am committed to working with the FF Plus to ensure that the ANC does not drive a wedge between them and the DA in future,” he said.

Mulder has also publicly stated that the Freedom Front Plus wants to work with the DA to form a coalition government with them.

He said that their primary goal, particularly in key municipalities like Tshwane, is to build a stable coalition consisting exclusively of the DA and FF Plus.

“We have one key opportunity in Pretoria, and we cannot afford to drop the ball under any circumstances,” he said.

“The Freedom Front Plus is working to build a stable coalition in Pretoria made up exclusively of the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus.”