Ground rules need to be established for stable coalitions

Fragile and unstable coalitions at local government level continue to be a challenge in South Africa, raising uncertainty for future formations of coalitions at provincial and national government level.

And if local governments cannot maintain stable coalitions, a coalition government formed at national level could lead to high levels of instability, says political analyst André Duvenhage.

Battlefield

Coalitions have become the battlefield between political parties in between elections.

According to Duvenhage, democracy was not so much a system as the way a system would work – and a system was needed before it could be democratised.

“If a system is dysfunctional and you democratise that process, you end up with chaos,” he said.

To a large extent, the chaos seen with local government coalitions had an explanation of complete dysfunctionality of the majority of local government systems in South Africa.

He said it was important to redevelop and re-establish the systems.

“We are looking at systems failure and a dysfunctional state and if we will not address the state, we will not solve the problems of democracy,” he said.

Could coalition at national level be the final nail in the country’s coffin?

Duvenhage said this would be a huge test for South Africa’s democracy and it would decide on national and provincial level if the country was consolidated or if it could run into severe drama.

“From what has been seen at local level, [it] reflected high levels of instability in some provinces and most probably would at national level, too,” he said.

“There is even the danger of failure of democratic practices. The test would be seen in 2024.”

A coalition government is a form of government where political parties govern jointly.

The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party can achieve an absolute majority in an election, an atypical outcome in nations with majoritarian electoral systems, but common under proportional representation.

READ MORE: In coalitions, stability trumps principle

Compromise

According to University of the Witwatersrand’s Public Affairs Research Institute, coalitions are only possible when parties are willing to compromise on preferences.

In many countries, a formal coalition agreement set out the compromise.

Agreements were negotiated allocating executive portfolios between them, with each side’s MMCs acting as partisan “barons” in their departments, redirecting resources for the benefit of their party in South Africa.

“Coalition governments required governing parties to cooperate over the production and implementation of public policy, which became the binding factor for coalitions to come together,” the report stated.

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