Local governance experts say some of the service delivery programmes instituted by the ousted Johannesburg multi-party government could be abandoned or relegated.
They say this is among the reasons why communities embark on service delivery protests.
Phalatse is expected to file papers in the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday to challenge the validity of the council meeting where she was ousted through a vote of no confidence.
Dr Tim Maake from D.T.I Consulting, local government specialist, says, “In some cases, communities have a legitimate case because they were promised a project, they were promised that their services will be improved. But when new political representatives come in, the very same projects disappears, or it becomes relegated and as a result service delivery suffers and there is unhappiness within the community.”
Action SA lashes out at Steenhuisen’s ‘arrogance’
Action SA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont has lashed out at Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen for what he calls “arrogance” towards other political parties that were in a coalition with it at the City of Johannesburg.
This after Steenhuisen allegedly said the coalition could have worked if Action SA didn’t make it difficult for DA to function in a coalition.
Beaumont says if the country wants to see smooth running of coalition-led governments, an equal recognition of political parties will have to be of paramount importance.
“You cannot in one breath refer to the sanctity of the coalition agreement and say that it can never be renegotiated when it doesn’t suit you. But when it does suit its entirely fine to work with, it doesn’t work like that. And the reason why it can’t particularly work that way is that coalitions and agreements that deal with them must ultimately serve the residents of these municipalities. That has to be the basis of every coalition or agreement.”
