No one within the DA has chosen the path of introspection

When former Joburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse was ousted through a vote of no confidence last week, the Democratic Alliance (DA) characterised it as the usual thing of a former party that lost the mayorship through an election and now is using underhanded and back-door tactics to get back in power.

Even Phalatse herself chose to sing from her own party’s handbook and has labelled the move as ANC and pals ganging up against the residents of the City of Joburg for another chance at having their hands in the cookie jar.

All other minority parties which helped the ANC’s Dada Morero get into the mayor’s seat are seen by the DA as co-conspirators in the potential looting of the city’s funds.

No one within the DA has chosen the path of introspection. The party has chosen to use its past victimisation by the Economic Freedom Fighters in coalitions as its go-to template for why things go wrong and its mayors are ousted through other minority parties coming together with the former ruling party to get back in power.

Could it be that the DA is afraid to look in the mirror because it knows it will not like its own reflection?

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There were rumours that the DA federal council chair seating in Cape Town and her inner caucus are making decisions that affect the future of people like Phalatse without their own input.

The rumours are, in fact, alleging what has always been alleged about South Africa’s official opposition: its mayors outside of Cape Town are micromanaged through a hovering helicopter-style leadership. This would mean that DA positions about leadership position allocations in coalitions are set in stone, leaving very little room to manoeuvre for its mayors.

This results in the obvious kind of allegations that other minority parties have said about the DA: arrogance. The DA would do well to look within itself for answers to some of the problems that might look like they’re coming from outside.

The success of their governing model in Cape Town has blinded the party to its own faults in places where it has to rule side-by-side with other parties that have their own valid power ambitions. It’s such a pity that the DA thinks it can replicate itself franchise-style wherever it has been given the mayorship, which then leads it to appearing arrogant.

When the DA took over the mayorship of Ekurhuleni, it immediately went in to unilaterally cancel things that the ANC had offered to residents, like free basic electricity and the indigents’ concessions on municipal rates and taxes, which make sense when it is governing a city like Cape Town but is totally insensitive (even if necessary) when the metro’s residents are mostly in the townships.

Revenue collection must be prioritised and wasteful expenditure got rid of but the way to do it is not to summarily take away measures that have been part of people’s aid for more than two decades without even bothering to explain. That’s what let to the Tembisa shutdown where residents were burning things.

Coalitions are here to stay. The DA can suffer self-inflicted pain by being allowed to occupy mayoral seats for three months and then ousted, or they can put the voters and citizens first by learning to adjust to coalition governments.

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There are no shortcuts to making such governments work. It all comes down to political maturity and knowing that without winning the right to govern any city or municipality outright, no party has the right to treat any of its coalition partners like juniors.

Failure to learn has unintended outcomes … like Joburg showed.