Political analyst Ongama Mtimka has warned that South Africa is likely to have a chaotic five years of local government because of how the political scenario has unfolded after the November 1 Local Government Elections.
He says it’s interesting to see how alliances among political parties have shifted in a matter of days.
This as the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Mpho Phalatse became the new Mayor of the City of Johannesburg. She won with 144 votes, while the African National Congress’ (ANC) Mpho Moerane got 121 during voting at a council sitting on Monday.
Dr Mpho Phalatse | Newly elected City of Joburg Mayor:
This followed ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba’s withdrawal from the race for the position of Mayor after coalition talks between his party and the DA collapsed.
Mtimka says many parties voted strategically.
“We’ve seen vindictive voting, strategic voting and also the shifting of alliances repeating the pattern that we saw in 2016. Both the ANC and the DA are in a difficult position. The consequence of not being able to form a coalition doesn’t result in huge numbers of considerations for coalitions which make the odds against them significantly high,” says Mtimka.
