If the plague of current shaky and crumbling coalitions at local government level hits South Africa after next year’s national polls, the country will be plunged into an unprecedented crisis, according to political experts.
Ruling out any role for the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs in the event of the collapse of a future coalition government at national level, University of Pretoria politics lecturer Roland Henwood, said that department would not have a role to play.
Instability and uncertainty
“We may find periods of instability, uncertainty and caretaker governments due to any collapse in a coalition at national level,” said Henwood.
“If the pattern of self-interest and personal politics playing out at local level continues, governance will be severely compromised. We may see early elections and possibly citizens getting directly involved with resultant instability.
“All indications support the likelihood of a coalition government. “But much can change between now and then.”
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‘Travesty’
Sanusha Naidu of the Institute for Global Dialogue described it as “a travesty that we end up in a situation where a motion of no confidence becomes devalued”.
“These coalition arrangements are now becoming a serious blight on governance and performance in many councils,” said Naidu.
“This does not augur well because there is no focus on the real issues. “So much vested interests make the situation more complicated and complex because it is not about measuring the performance of the individual.
“These motions are about getting power at all costs – petty vindictive politics.” She added: “The problem here is that our electoral model does not allow us to do direct voting.
“Once parties get an electoral mandate, they don’t go back to voters and inform them of what they are intending to do.
“We need a legislative agreement on coalitions to avert any disruptions and being destabilised.” Political analyst Dr Melanie Verwoerd said: “With Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane being other case studies where coalition changes have taken place, we have seen municipalities where the power balance becomes close and unstable.
“This does not bode well for 2024 if we are going to go into a coalition government. “But if you still have a very strong dominant majority party and you have one or two minority parties that join you, then coalitions can work.
“In our situation, our politicians are not mature enough to make service delivery the main aim of government.
“Focus on power shows immaturity and lack of responsiveness towards the constituents.”
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