Another option for the ANC is to form a coalition with MK, the biggest winner of this election, having placed third with 15% of the vote in the first election.
However, although they received more votes, they claim that the final results were manipulated and are demanding a new opinion poll. The Electoral Commission rejected the claim and the MK has yet to provide any evidence for the claim.
The gulf between them and the ANC is wider and wider than with any other party. This is partly due to personal animosity between Mr Zuma and Mr Ramaphosa, who ousted him as national leader.
As well as demanding a new president, the MK wants to abolish the constitution so that South Africa can become a “free parliamentary democracy”. The ANC has ruled this out.
At first glance, this also rules out EFF. This is because the EFF is also demanding a constitutional amendment to allow white-owned land to be expropriated without compensation.
Mr Malema, a former ANC youth leader who was expelled from the party in 2012 for stoking divisions and discrediting the party, said the EFF was willing to work with the ANC in a coalition government. However, the party's demand for land expropriation was a 'basic principle', and if the ANC rejects it, it will not participate in the government.
The ANC and EFF both hold 198 seats. This is just short of the 201 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, so smaller parties will have to join the coalition.
Or they could team up with Mr Zuma's MKs, who support land confiscation and say there is a need to distribute agricultural land “on an equal basis to farmers”.
But a two-thirds majority is needed to change the constitution, leaving the ANC, EFF and MK just short of the 267 seats needed. Between the two there are 256 seats.
The ANC opposes constitutional change but acknowledges that current land ownership patterns need to be addressed.
In an interview with South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, former president Kgalema Motlanthe, a close ally of Ramaphosa, said the “land issue” was “the root of national discontent.”
His comments suggest there may be room for agreement with the EFF and even MK on this issue.
The DA strongly opposes a deal between the three rivals, saying it would be a “doomsday coalition” that would turn South Africa into “Zimbabwe or Venezuela”.
“The Earth Judgment Coalition will plunge this country into racial conflict the likes of which we have never seen before,” the party says.
However, some ANC officials take the opposing view that MK's exclusion would threaten its stability, given its electoral success making it the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal.
KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa's second most populous province and, with its port, is often described as the country's economic artery.
It is also one of the most politically unstable regions with a history of violence. More than 300 people have been killed in riots since Mr Zuma was sent to prison in 2021.
He was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring orders to cooperate with official investigations into corruption during his nine-year presidency, which ended in 2018.
ANC members in KwaZulu-Natal say with another court case looming – Mr Zuma is due to stand trial next year on corruption charges related to a 1999 arms deal – there is a real risk of a new wave of violence.
So they think some kind of deal should be made with him to draw a line on the past and acknowledge his status as a former president. Especially since he showed that he controlled 15% of the national vote.
