Al Jama-ah goes into coalition talks — Transcript

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1. 0:00Now, as political parties get into the
2. 0:02crucial stage of coalition talks, we
3. 0:03want to know what their aims and
4. 0:05objectives are. Alja got three seats in
5. 0:07the city of Johannesburg during last
6. 0:08week's local government elections. In
7. 0:10the previous term, Aljama was the king
8. 0:12maker in Johannesburg Council and at one
9. 0:15point had its members Tapello Amit and
10. 0:18Kabel Guamanda as mayors. Now joined by
11. 0:20Aljima President Khan Hendris to discuss
12. 0:23the party's strategy for ongoing
13. 0:25negotiations. Khan, you seem to have
14. 0:26enjoyed last time around or at least in
15. 0:28the current administration somewhat to
16. 0:30an extent the confidence of other
17. 0:32parties until you didn't and then uh the
18. 0:35coalition patterns changed and it went
19. 0:37into the hands of the ANC. Uh given the
20. 0:40experience that Elimar had having been
21. 0:43having had the Miral chain at least
22. 0:44twice in the last or in the current
23. 0:46administration,
24. 0:48does that inform at all how you will be
25. 0:50approaching coalition talks this time
26. 0:51around with the three seats that you
27. 0:53have? Wow.
28. 0:57Thank you very much. Um I seem to have
29. 1:01problems with the sound. I can't hear
30. 1:03you properly. Uh but um I understand
31. 1:06that you are referring to the 18 months
32. 1:10uh that Al Jama occupied the malo
33. 1:14parlor.
34. 1:16uh as you know that uh this time around
35. 1:20our is more on being a strong opposition
36. 1:25after the lessons we learned during our
37. 1:2918 months term
38. 1:32and um we are not in the game of
39. 1:38uh coalitions
40. 1:41because we want to be an alternative
41. 1:44party in 2029.
42. 1:48So if one is going to be part of a
43. 1:49coalition,
44. 1:51uh it hampers [clears throat] the
45. 1:53pathway to being an alternative party to
46. 1:57the mainstream parties.
47. 2:00As far as the city of Johannesburg is
48. 2:03concerned,
49. 2:05we have 18 months of solid experience
50. 2:09keeping 10 coalition parties together
51. 2:14and uh stable and we want to use that
52. 2:18experience that we had to be a strong
53. 2:23opposition in the city of Johannesburg.
54. 2:28What what exactly is that experience
55. 2:30Khan given that at some point the
56. 2:33parties you were co-governing within
57. 2:34that coalition felt that Al Jamaal was
58. 2:36no longer good enough or that its
59. 2:38candidates were no longer taking the
60. 2:39city forward and that coalition fell
61. 2:41apart, reconfigured and then was
62. 2:43rearranged. Uh what exactly is the
63. 2:45experience you're bringing to
64. 2:46negotiations this time around?
65. 2:51Look uh uh it is still early days
66. 2:56as you know that the 10 coalition
67. 2:59partners
68. 3:01uh we we haven't met to decide whether
69. 3:05we can continue the relationship we had
70. 3:09which took one and a half years to build
71. 3:13and then after that one and a half years
72. 3:15we worked together uh for quite 18
73. 3:20months even when Al Jamaar first mayor
74. 3:23resigned they asked us to continue
75. 3:27taking the lead and um to have done that
76. 3:33for 18 months must certainly count for
77. 3:36something. Now it's a completely
78. 3:38different scenario.
79. 3:41Uh we have uh parties that have done
80. 3:45very well.
81. 3:47uh we're not sure what their uh position
82. 3:50is going to be. Uh Alam Matis has three
83. 3:55uh counselors although two of them are
84. 3:57ward counselors
85. 4:00uh and we obviously intend
86. 4:03uh to put their best efforts to serve
87. 4:06our two wards in Lanasia. We only have
88. 4:10one PR seat that has to service uh both
89. 4:15of the other wards in the city of
90. 4:17Chelber. Our focus is uh going forward
91. 4:22uh to put our best foot forward uh to uh
92. 4:26recognize the confidence that the voters
93. 4:30of Lanasia
94. 4:33the confidence that I had in us. They
95. 4:36saw how we manage one ward very well. So
96. 4:42the adjacent the ward obviously wants
97. 4:45the same levels of service that we gave
98. 4:49to the ward 9 and now they've given us w
99. 4:539 and 10 and um uh so our emphasis is
100. 4:58now uh to serve the residents of those
101. 5:02two wards and uh to to see how we can
102. 5:06make it into smart ws.
103. 5:09Uh, and just lastly, Khan, has any of
104. 5:11the leading parties in the city of
105. 5:12Johannesburg reached out to you? The
106. 5:14Action SA, the ANC, and the Democratic
107. 5:16Alliance?
108. 5:20>> Can you repeat that? Uh, I I may have to
109. 5:23switch off my video.
110. 5:25>> Has any of the
111. 5:26>> Can you repeat that?
112. 5:27>> Has any of the parties in the city of
113. 5:29Johannesburg reached out to you or Al
114. 5:31Jama since the conclusion of the 2026
115. 5:34local government elections?
116. 5:39Look, the 20 uh we basically
117. 5:43uh maintained our position in 2000 uh
118. 5:47and 26.
119. 5:49Uh although like I said earlier on
120. 5:53instead of getting two PR seats, we got
121. 5:55two awards and and that is uh our focus
122. 5:59going forward.
123. 6:00>> Yeah. But but to our two wards we
124. 6:04coalitions and but what we'd like to
125. 6:07know is bigger role.
126. 6:08>> Yeah. What we'd like to know though
127. 6:10however is not our priority.
128. 6:12>> Okay. Has any party reached out to you
129. 6:14at all since Sunday on any coalition
130. 6:17conversation.
131. 6:23>> Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know. I said
132. 6:25earlier on that I'm being having
133. 6:27problems in hearing you [snorts]
134. 6:29and uh so it's very difficult of me to
135. 6:32fully understand uh your your your
136. 6:35questions. Um
137. 6:37>> okay well that's fine then closer to me.
138. 6:41>> Yeah well
139. 6:42>> but I still don't fully hear what you
140. 6:45are saying.
141. 6:46>> No that's fine then we're going to have
142. 6:47to leave it there. Khan, thank you so
143. 6:48much for your time. Really do appreciate
144. 6:50it. KV Hendris who is the founder and
145. 6:52president of Al Jama. My