A coalition of political parties will govern South Africa better than the African national Congress (ANC). This is according to the new “Working Coalition” group made up of the DA, COPE, ACDP, IFP and FFP.
A group of opposition parties have formed a new coalition which they say will run municipalities better than what the ANC has done so far.
Addressing a media briefing, the group says the recently passed budgets in the coalition-led Metros focused on creating jobs and providing quality services for the poor.
COPE’s leader Mosuioa Lekota says despite taking over metros which had employees with no proper qualifications, a lot has been achieved by the coalition partners.
COPE and the ACDP voiced their concerns regarding illegal foreign nationals. Lekota blamed the housing challenges in the City of Johannesburg on foreign nationals.
He says under municipalities that are run by the coalition, hijacked buildings will be recaptured, renovated and allocated to locals.
Lekota has blamed the ANC for allowing the problem to flourish during its tenure in office. He says the influx of foreign nationals has also collapsed businesses owned by South Africans in most townships and that this is unacceptable.
“People are being allowed to flood South Africa from other countries. Most of the people in the cities occupying building are people from outside the country. We are not xenophobic. We need to appreciate that unless opposition coalition of this nature access provincial and national where we can control people coming from other countries and say to them, well you are welcome when you are refugees, but let’s set up refugee camps . Our own south Africans were in exile but were not allowed to occupy cities of those countries and then push citizens out,” says Lekota.
There was a general consensus amongst partners that the fight against corruption should be a priority.
Meanwhile, there are no formal talks amongst coalition partners as to how they will deal with the up and coming general elections.
But for now each party stands and works on its own.
