A hat trick of hard sells - This is the response from the ANC's alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, to the idea of the African National Congress forming a coalition government with any of the main runners-up in the 29 May election: the Democratic Alliance, the uMkhonto Wesizwe or the Economic Freedom Fighters.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the labour alliance partner with the ANC and South African Communist Party (SACP), does not like any of the main offerings on the current coalition political menu.

Acting Cosatu spokesman Matthew Parks told Daily Maverick on Wednesday that the labour federation was still in discussions and did not want to present the ANC with an ultimatum, as parties scramble to form South Africa's seventh governing administration of the democratic era. This is the first with the ANC deprived of its customary majority after its share of the vote plunged 17 percentage points to just over 40%.

But Parks said that all of the top three runners-up in the 29 May election were unappetising for organised labour.

"The DA [Democratic Alliance] is a very difficult sell to Cosatu and workers, it's a very difficult sell. In their manifesto they say they are going to scrap all the labour laws, they are opposed to a minimum wage. That's an impossible policy platform for Coastu to stomach," Parks said.

Ditto for disgraced former Jacob Zuma's upstart uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, which came a shock second in the election, harvesting almost 15% of the ballots cast....