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Before the vote, Haniff Hoosen promised to fix Durban by simply not stealing its money. MK then fell well short of a majority, and the DA's mayoral candidate found himself a coalition deal away from the job, or from losing it. He told Alec Hogg whether he'd step aside if his party's head office handed the mayoralty to someone else, why he rated the race a coin toss, which small parties he believed held the city's future, and what he'd tackle first in a city where the taps still run dry. He also named the Durban wards the DA won for the first time, and the ones that slipped away by a few hundred votes.

A month after telling BizNews that MK would fall short in Durban, Dean Macpherson came back to have his crystal ball checked. MK did fall short, and the DA's KZN chairperson said his party, the ANC and the IFP were now just three votes from running eThekwini. But he hadn't forgotten 2021, when small parties promised the DA their support and then handed the mayoralty back to the ANC. He told Alec Hogg how the DA was handling the kingmakers this time, why he believed MK's slide from 45% to about 35% came down to being shut out of the provincial government, what a DA mayor would do in a city with a record budget and 13,000 water leaks, and why he wasn't reading much into reports that Cyril Ramaphosa had cooled on working with the DA.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, political commentator Solly Moeng reveals that many “hardcore” ANC members - even ones who have been MPs - voted for ActionSA and the DA in secret so as not to lose their positions or businesses. He says those people now want a coalition between the Action SA and the DA. “So please, political party leaders, forget your personal grudges. Think about why people came to you and not elsewhere. Now, if you take their vote and you decide I'm going to cushion the ANC because I hate the other guys, that's disrespectful...” Moeng also dissects the bombs being dropped at the Madlanga Commission by tenderpreneur Cat Matlala about former Police Minister Bheki Cele, former Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya, special leave Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, as well as the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew by marriage, Tembisa tender don Hangwani Morgan Maumela. “There's a lot of accountability that is still not on the table because people have protection at the highest level and the president is not able to speak from a moral high ground about anything because they can also point fingers at him.” Moeng also comments on an alleged plot by IDAC to target whistle-blower General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

A week after the vote, the arguments had moved from the ballot box to the bargaining table. DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis told Alec Hogg which results caught even his own party off guard, and who he said was now voting DA. ActionSA's Athol Trollip explained why his party wouldn't simply hand its gains to the biggest party in Gauteng, and said the next move was the DA's. William Saunderson-Meyer argued the most telling result came from Howick, where Chris Pappas turned a knife-edge win into a bigger majority by doing the basics. Police committee chair Ian Cameron told Chris Steyn what the acting police minister had admitted about 10111, and what nearly 1.8 million abandoned calls meant for people in danger. Reuters closed the show with Wednesday's Wall Street rally and the AI results that sparked it.

A week after his first election as DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis had a queue of rivals telling him what to do. Herman Mashaba wanted Helen Zille out of the picture, Corné Mulder warned against any deal with the ANC, and Julius Malema's lawyers were threatening Zille with court. Speaking to Alec Hogg on the day the 14-day coalition clock started, Hill-Lewis refused to negotiate through the media, but he set out the range of deals on the table, said what the DA's donors want in return, and explained why he believes the party has broken through its glass ceiling with black voters. He also said an early national election was possible from next May, promised to back Zille "to the hilt" in any court fight with the EFF, and named the tests any new metro government would have to pass.