In a move typical of former president Jacob Zuma’s brinkmanship, the MK Party says it’s ready to talk to the IFP about a coalition deal.

It has invited the IFP to the negotiating table – some 48 hours before the first sitting of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature on Friday, where the premier, speaker and deputy speaker will be elected.

According to a person close to the developments, the two parties were in an online, mid-morning meeting on Wednesday.

MK Party secretary-general Sihle Ngubane said the MK Party had identified “political ideologies and characteristics that seem to point to some similarities of interest between MK Party and IFP … in relation to KwaZulu-Natal specifically”.

The statement follows indications that the IFP has been hedging its bets on a coalition bloc led by itself, with the ANC, DA, and NFP.