Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chairman James Selfe said on Wednesday that “ideological differences” stood in the way of a coalition government with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

Selfe‚ speaking on CapeTalk (www.capetalk.co.za) radio‚ said the metros were likely to be run by minority governments and that would involve a great deal of “arm wrestling” when it came to issues such as budgets.

“There are ideological differences that still persist between ourselves and the EFF. We are committed to a longer-term conversation with them and we will have that conversation‚ but I think there are too many issues to get out of the way between now and the formation of the municipal government‚” he said.

“It is likely we will have a minority government situation in both Johannesburg and Tshwane where we will be dependent on the other parties for support on key votes and key issues.”

While a coalition with the African National Congress was not possible‚ the DA would rely on support from smaller parties such as the African Christian Democratic Party‚ United Democratic Movement‚ the Congress of the People and Freedom Front Plus‚ he said.

Some of the major obstacles in talks with the EFF included the red berets’ policy of wanting to expropriate land without compensation and desire to nationalise the mines‚ issues which‚ Selfe said‚ were not municipal competencies.

“Our attitude all the way along is that we can talk about these matters but they were actually peripheral to the running of a municipality‚” he said.

He said a minority government in the metros would have to govern on an “issue by issue basis”. – TMG Digital