Coalition negotiations between the EFF and the ANC had apparently deadlocked on Sunday after disagreements over the position of Action SA president Herman Mashaba.
ANC insiders who were at the negotiating table with the EFF accused the red berets of imposing Mashaba on them.
Sowetan understands that the deadlock between the two parties came after EFF refused to back down on its demand that Mashaba be allowed to become mayor for the City of Johannesburg.
Speaking about the meeting, an insider who did not want to be named said the EFF was adamant about Mashaba being mayor.
"The EFF is imposing Mashaba as mayor of Joburg and the ANC is not in favour of that,” the insider said.
Sunday's meeting between the ANC and EFF came after Mashaba poured cold water over hopes his party would work with the EFF.
In a statement on Saturday, Mashaba announced he had written to the EFF and rejected its coalition offer.
He said while his party’s senate, its highest decision-making body, discussed a range of issues with the proposal, the primary issue they had with the deal was that it was dependent on the support of the ANC.
Mashaba hinted that the door was now closed behind in his party's talks with the EFF.
Another ANC NEC member expressed concern saying the party did not fully trust the EFF.
He questioned why the EFF was adamant about Mashaba being mayor of Johannesburg when the ActionSA had publicly rejected the EFF's offer.
"In the last local government elections, it was unexpected that the EFF would openly work with the DA but they did that to spite the ANC and we have suspicions that they want to do that," said the insider.
"The matter hasn’t been resolved but the demands put forward by the EFF are difficult to deal with. We’ve got strong suspicion they want to work with the DA as a way of fighting back against the ANC."
EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, who earlier on Sunday, said the party would make a statement once discussions had been finalized did not respond to questions on the claims made by ANC members.
EFF leader Julius Malema said on Saturday the the party wanted to govern in Tshwane and had offered support to the ANC to retain Ekurhuleni in a tripartite agreement with Action SA taking over Johannesburg.
On Sunday, PA's Gayton McKenzie postponed an update livestream with party members and followers on Facebook due to ongoing coalition talks.
Parties have until November 23 to form governments, which is 14 working days after the election results were declared.
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