Arrogant DA self-defeating

At the conclusion of the 2016 local government elections, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) allowed the Democratic Alliance (DA) to take over the metropolitan councils of Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), Johannesburg and Tshwane.

The EFF was very clear: it was not going into formal coalitions with the DA but were lending the party its support at the time to keep the ANC out.

Its voting on issues would be on an issue-by-issue basis. This worked for two years, especially in NMB: a city that was R2 billion in the red now had a R600 million surplus.

The loose coalition, led by Athol Trollip, was bringing stability to the city. And then it all fell apart. The EFF insisted Trollip had to go. The DA lost the city because the EFF withdrew its support, to “cut the throat of whiteness” as Malema put it.

This collapsed another loose agreement in Johannesburg (where Herman Mashaba was somewhat succeeding as mayor). In the end, the DA, Mashaba and the EFF were all in opposite corners.

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It is now 2021, the ANC has yet again been kept below 50% in the same metros and if the small opposition parties can band together they can keep the ANC out, with Mashaba having negotiated his way back into the City of Joburg’s mayoral seat. But the DA does a complete turnaround and says it wants to field its own mayor.

In other words, go it alone. Trouble with that is, the DA licking its wounds and fielding its own mayoral candidates achieves what the ANC wants: driving the smaller parties into their corner for coalitions.

It seems the DA is prepared to sacrifice its voters and those of smaller parties just to get back at the EFF and Mashaba.

It is understandable the DA wants to avoid the embarrassment that the EFF put it through during the Trollip saga, but the DA needs to understand the pluralism of SA’s democracy: small parties matter.

The DA stands on one very true assertion during campaigning: whenever it has taken over a sphere of government from the ruling party, it has always maintained it in subsequent elections – and the City of Cape Town and Western Cape province are cases in point. Whatever formula it has working to govern there works for it and its voters.

Unfortunately other provinces and metros are not like that. The DA does not have clear majorities in those places and it cannot impose its “DA governments” in those areas.

When Malema threatened to “cut the throat of whiteness” in 2019, he used inflammatory language that he knew appeals to his support base.

ALSO READ: ‘The EFF will not enter into any coalitions’ – Malema

Unfortunately the DA missed the rest of his message: “The DA is arrogant and keeps claiming there are DA governments even in places where they are governing through coalitions.”

In KZN, the Inkatha Freedom Party is demanding that Umlazi’s Mangosuthu Highway retain its name to allow the ANC to govern some areas it should not govern.

The EFF is demanding of the ANC to implement a policy of free sanitary pads nationally just to secure its coalition vote in some councils. The point? The DA isn’t the only party called on to make sacrifices.

That is the nature of the coalition beast.

The DA can stay arrogant and walk away, or man up and form councils so voters can benefit.