SA coalitions prove ‘there is a maturity that is lacking with our politics’

Thapelo Amad became the butt of jokes for listing potholes as a top priority after being elected as mayor of Johannesburg. But he is also a symptom of a wider shift in South African politics.

His rivals dismiss Mayor Amad as a “clueless placeholder”. Coalition partners have described his appointment as just a “transitional” solution.

The recent election of the 41-year-old, a municipal councillor from a tiny Muslim party to head the economic hub, has surprised and bemused South Africans. 

But analysts say it portrays the state of South African politics, as the country heads towards elections next year — and the decline in support for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) which opens the door to odd coalition permutations on the national stage. 

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“The entire approach is very adolescent, there is a maturity that is lacking with our politics,” said Ina Gouws, politics lecturer at the University of the Free State. 

“This is someone who has absolutely zero experience.”

– ‘Completely expendable’ –

Amad was voted in three weeks ago after months of political manoeuvring and legal battles for control of South Africa’s largest city. 

The ANC had long tried to oust the coalition led by Amad’s predecessor Mpho Phalatse of the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party.

But having fallen short of an outright majority at the 2021 city elections — in its poorest showing in almost three decades — it needed support from smaller parties. 

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It found some in Al Jama-ah, a party with just one national lawmaker in the 400-member National Assembly, and three representatives in Johannesburg’s 270-seat council. 

Amad was reportedly chosen as a compromise, temporary mayor as the ANC and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) negotiated a broader deal involving other municipalities.

Some of Amad’s early steps have raised eyebrows in a city battling crippling power cuts, water shortages and high crime among a litany of other woes.

In one much maligned move, Kenny Kunene — a businessman and convicted fraudster known for a partying lifestyle that earned him the nickname of ‘sushi king’ — was put in charge of transport.

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Nthatisi Modingoane, Johannesburg city spokesman said that fixing potholes was part of the mayor’s “back to the basics” approach, which included addressing water and energy issues.

But he declined to comment on the perceived precariousness of the mayor’s tenure.  

“He is completely expendable,” Daniel Silke, director of Political Futures Consultancy, said of Amad.

– An ‘animal called coalition’- 

Fractious coalitions, backroom deals, and short-lived mayors have been a staple of South Africa’s local government politics in recent years.

But such chicanery is almost unheard of at national level, where the ANC has been in sole command since it played the dominant role in a government of national unity that followed the first democratic elections in 1994, following the end of apartheid.

Yet, the party once led by the revered Nelson Mandela is widely expected do dip below 50 percent of the national vote next year, as record blackouts, high unemployment and poor economic performance dent its popularity. 

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This would require it to strike an agreement with other parties to remain in power.

Some have raised concerns that the instability and shenanigans plaguing local administrations could play out at a national level.

Bheke Stofile, the head of the South African Local Government Association, told parliament on Wednesday, new rules to stabilise coalitions are needed to bring into line political parties that seem to prioritise their own interests over those of the communities they serve.   

“If you don’t deal with this animal called coalition it will rob the majority of our people,” he said. 

Late last year, a group of parliamentarians travelled to Denmark to study how coalition governments work.

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But fears of an unworkable government play into the hands of the ruling party, said Silke.

“One of the campaigning elements for the ANC in next year’s election will be to tell the electorate that coalitions don’t work,” he said.