Coalitions and kingmakers are the new buzzwords in local government politics after the recent Local Government Election where political parties failed to get an outright majority in many municipalities.
In Gauteng, there are 8 hung municipalities, which include the three metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
The new entrant ActionSA has gone back to the electorate to determine how they should approach coalitions.
What they are unapologetic about is that they won’t get into a coalition with the ANC, says their national spokesperson Lerato Ngobeni.
“We will go into coalition discussions with parties who are committed to a zero-tolerance stance on corruption. Secondly, we will go into a coalition on the basis of transparency. As you know we’ve been running a public participation poll on our website since Thursday.”
“We will go into coalition discussions with a party that will agree with a service delivery agenda upfront,” she adds.
ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba on the election results:
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is willing to work with all parties on condition they agree to 17 principles listed on its website.
Aspiring coalition partners will be required to pledge to good governance, non-racialism and a rejection of gender and racial quotas.
The video below is reporting on political parties coalitions:
The Freedom Front Plus (FFPlus) grew in leaps and bound in this round of elections and doubled the number of its seats.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald says on principle they will not work with the ANC or the EFF.
“We must ensure that when we go into a coalition, it is sustainable, that it is stable, and therefore we will look very carefully who the other partners are in that specific coalition.”
“We must set an example for the 2024 election and prove to the electorate that you can [have a] stable and responsible coalition government,” says Groenewald.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) wants a service delivery for all South Africans including access to water, land, jobs, transparency and none-racialism.
They also want all coalitions agreements to be published.
Another potential kingmaker and newcomer, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), has established a panel to negotiate any coalitions.
Patriotic Alliance head of legal affairs, Eugene Botha says, “Our mandate is to secure … governance in municipalities [and] to ensure there is service delivery to our communities. Because they [voters] have not been served for so long.”
“So we don’t have any view on any party that we say we will never do business with them. We want them to understand though that we don’t become a branch of them,” adds Botha.
The GOOD party has decided that they will not enter any local government coalitions.
Expectations from ANC NEC meeting with political analyst Dirk Kotze:
