Parliament, Wednesday, 30 October 2024 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) on Tuesday urged the Department of COGTA to table new legislation aimed at stabilising coalition governments in municipalities in time to ensure stability in municipal governance after the 2026 Local Government Elections.
The committee on Tuesday discussed the Draft Local Government: Municipal Coalitions Bill. Although the Bill has not yet been tabled in Parliament, the committee requested more information from the department on the draft legislation to prepare and exchange ideas on the proposals in the Bill before tabling them.
Dr Kevin Naidoo, Deputy Director-General for Policy, Governance and Administration in the Department of COGTA, told the committee they intend to submit the bill to the State Law Advisor for final vetting and to the Presidency for a final economic and social impact assessment by December this year. The plan is to table the bill in July 2025.
Among other things, the bill proposes introducing legally binding coalition agreements, a minimum threshold of 1% for a seat in councils, no-confidence votes by a show of hands only after two years have passed since their election, and a collective executive system instead of mayoral executive systems in hung councils.
The committee heard that these legislative proposals are meant to better guide the establishment and management of coalition governments. Dr Naidoo told the committee that since the 2021 Local Government Elections, the number of hung councils increased significantly from 29 in 2000 to 82 in 2021. A hung council is one where no party has over 50% of the votes. This, the committee heard, brought many governance and service delivery challenges, necessitating a framework to guide the formation and management of coalition councils.
Noting the proposal regarding removing municipal office-bearers by a show of hands, the committee resolved to get a legal opinion. “We don’t believe that there is a way we can prescribe that, on such a matter, the secret ballot is unacceptable,” said the Chairperson.
The committee noted that there may be conditions under which it was necessary to apply for a secret ballot. Some members noted the security risks and said that since political assassinations are a reality, this, in principle, is not something that can be encouraged.
“Can we make a law to outlaw a secret ballot? I don’t think we can,” the Chairperson said. “There can be a credible basis on which people would actually object to an open voting system. What is important here is to indicate that the provision for a secret ballot is a right that we cannot just easily overrule.”
Another proposal that sparked debate was the introduction of a 1% threshold for political parties to qualify for a seat in the municipal council. The committee noted the department’s rationale for this proposal – to mitigate against smaller parties or independent councillors who often turn out to be kingmakers driving “a hard bargain” in coalition formations and ending up with “a level of political power that has no relation to their electoral support”. The committee enquired about the legality and constitutionality of such a threshold and resolved to get a legal opinion from Parliament’s Legal Services Unit. The committee believes this is important because when the bill comes to the committee, there should be clarity about the implications of the approach.
The committee stressed that where the framework on coalition government is concerned, the main focus should be that such a government must be in the voters’ interest. It also noted, however, that the nature of forming such a government is a combination of negotiations, policy agreements, policy alignment and disagreements. However, the committee also noted that there are a lot of other non-policy issues, such as trust, mutual respect and sometimes plain self-interest, which will play a role. “So all of this, as far as we are concerned, are issues that you cannot prescribe on how ultimately coalition governments would have to be made,” the Chairperson said.
The committee noted that when it comes to stability, coalition members must agree on something. It also noted that proponents of the coalition agreement believe it must be made public so that transparency can help hold parties accountable. The committee noted that there would be certain areas of unhappiness, especially about how political parties would benefit from any form of appointment in a coalition agreement. Still, it stressed that the bill must be about protecting the people, not political parties.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, DR ZWELI MKHIZE.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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