During a mini-debate on unstable political coalitions in the National Assembly recently, the African National Congress’s Ms Dikeledi Direko wondered about the effect such alliances have on service delivery and good governance.
In her view, unstable coalitions often claim to serve the interests of the people, but they often collapse and are alliances between political parties that do not share interests or ideologies. This is the case because, “currently there are no guidelines for coalitions and no regulatory framework that governs them.”
A Democratic Alliance MP, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, pointed out that coalition governments should be based on sustainable values and the goals of the political parties that form them. To this effect, the DA has proposed legislation to stabilise coalitions. “This legislation will insulate people from the whims of politicians and will ensure that coalitions are codified and are managed by an independent arbiter.”
Coalitions are a sign of a maturing democracy, said Ms Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi of the Economic Freedom Fighters. “We went to Denmark recently to conduct research on the concept of coalitions and we have learnt that they can work if political parties can put their egos aside and use coalitions to promote service delivery. Coalitions are here to stay and can be effective if they are not based on patronage,” she emphasised.
The days of single majority party are gone, maintained Ms Sbuyiselwe Buthelezi for the Inkatha Freedom Party. We are in an era of coalition government. “It’s upon us to see how quickly we adapt to this new era.” There’s a misplaced perception that coalitions are a sign of a political weakness. If they can be harnessed effectively, they can improve service delivery, she said. “Our research in Germany shows that coalitions can do more by transferring the service delivery needs of the people into one strategic political plan.” She asserted that the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs should come up with standardised framework of best practices for this to be achieved.
We should be wary of collusions formed in the pretext of coalitions, warned Dr Petrus Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus. However, he mentioned studies which showed that for coalitions to survive, “The biggest party in a coalition should be the humblest, because despite its number of votes, there is nothing it can do to form government without the parties with small numbers. He further added: “Coalitions agreement in municipalities should be negotiated and managed locally, not by national politicians.”
Coalitions are a representation of people’s tiredness “with corruption, cadre deployment, ineffective financial management of state resources, lack transparency and service delivery,” said Mr Wayne Thring (African Christian Democratic Party). When managed well, coalitions can bring about open, transparent governance, sound financial management and service delivery, he said.
The question to be asked is are we ready for coalitions; the answer is no, claimed Mr Ahmed Shaik-Emam (National Freedom Party). “Political parties put their political interest first before of the electorate.” He went further to state that selfishness, greed and corruption are a feature of coalitions. “Some political parties get into coalitions because they want access to resources. Hence, they often dictate who should be a municipal manager, who should be its chief financial officer. And when they don’t get tenders, such coalitions often collapse. Unsustainable.”
The Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Ms Thembi Nkadimeng, stated that the department is looking at a legally binding framework to guide coalitions in practice. According to her, a study on 42 western democracies showed that the sustainability of coalitions is based on the reduction of policy changes. “Adhering to longitudinal policies would avoid disruption.”
She was of the view that the Amendment of Municipal Structure Act would deal with some of the shortcomings experienced in coalition governments recently. One of which is the motion of no confidence, the formula used to allocate council seats. And to ensure that where there are governance disputes, a majority party would be allowed to make a determination on, for example, the passing or appropriation of a budget so that service delivery imperatives wouldn’t be compromised by perpetual disagreement of coalition partners.
Abel Mputing
11 November 2022
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