President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the Government of National Unity will continue, days after ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula called for the DA's place in it to be reviewed.

Ramaphosa spoke on Sunday, 18 October 2026, at an ANC campaign event in Khayelitsha, Western Cape, as the 4 November local government elections approach. The DA has said it is "not in the GNU to go along to get along".

What Mbalula said and how the DA replied

Mbalula made the call on Thursday, 15 October, after the Constitutional Court ruled in the ANC's favour and ordered the Electoral Commission to put 181 ANC candidates back on the ballot. He said the DA had opposed the ANC's application in the Electoral Court and the Constitutional Court.

Mbalula said the ANC is not trying to silence its coalition partners, but must act against parties that are not in line with the statement of intent on which the government was formed. He said opposing the enfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of South Africans "does not sit easily beside that understanding".

DA federal council chairperson Ashor Sarupen said the ruling raises serious concerns about the precedent it sets for meeting Electoral Commission deadlines. Of the GNU, he said: "The DA is not in the GNU to go along to get along." He also said the ANC's return to the ballot would not change its electoral fortunes and described the party as in "terminal decline", which is his claim.

Ramaphosa's response

Ramaphosa said the reasons for forming the GNU "still hold". He said the unity government operates at national level and that municipal elections would not decide the coalition's future.

He acknowledged that the parties have different policies, ideologies and histories but said they have found a way to work together, and compared the arrangement to the 1994 government of national unity. He dismissed the DA's actions as "their own moments of fancy" that the ANC would not focus on.

Ramaphosa said the ANC is aiming for outright majorities in municipalities, noting that coalitions now govern nearly all metropolitan councils.

Why it matters ahead of 4 November

The dispute grew out of a candidate-list deadline fight, and it now reaches into the national coalition just as campaigning peaks. The Electoral Commission said in September that 136,790 candidates had been cleared to contest the elections, up from 95,427 in 2021.

Published reports also say the ANC Youth League has called for DA ministers to be removed from the national executive. We have not seen that statement and treat it as unconfirmed.

What we do not yet know

  • Whether the ANC will formally table a review of the DA's participation, and in which forum.
  • Whether the ANC's wider leadership backs Mbalula's position or Ramaphosa's.
  • The DA's full response to Ramaphosa's remarks.
  • Whether the Youth League statement is official.
  • Second confirmation needed: Ramaphosa's Khayelitsha quotes come from one report we reviewed. Check them against a recording or the ANC's statement.