Coalitions are coming after the ANC’s broken municipalities

The coming local government elections will come at time when more municipalities than ever are crumbling under financial ruin underpinned by allegations of corruption, maladministration and fraud.

According to anti-corruption NGO Outa, voter despondence and apathy may play a larger role in the coming election than in previous ones.

This is due to widespread disillusionment with both the African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties as alternatives. This would leave what little votes remained for the taking of coalitions and independent candidates, said OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenhage.

Under the National Disaster Management Act and Covid-19 regulations, several municipalities struggled to provide the water and sanitation infrastructure needed for people to protect themselves from the pandemic. Townships, informal settlements and rural areas, which were notoriously under-serviced, became hotspots for the spread of Covid-19.

This as heavy rains in Limpopo and other provinces following Cyclone Eloise have further damaged water infrastructure, prolonging the wait for communities in need of fresh running water, an old struggle with new and deadly consequences.

According to Auditor-general (AG) Kimi Makwetu in his 2018/19 Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) audit report, 45 municipalities had regressed in the state of their finances with only 20 of them (8%) receiving clean audits.

Twenty-eight of the 257 municipalities could not be audited as their financial statements were not submitted, while only 8% or 20 municipalities received clean audits. Of all the clean audits to come out of this report, most were from the DA-run Western Cape.

“There is definitely a need for change because a lot of people are dissatisfied with how municipalities are being run. I think we are going to see a combination of coalitions and independent candidates coming to the fore to work with local government.

“There has been a big uptake of independent candidates running for local government. We also foresee a big drop in people supporting the ANC and this might not necessarily go to the opposition parties, because people are disillusioned with opposition parties available as an alternative to the ANC, so we may even see a lower voter turn-out because of this,” said Duvenhage.

The problem with coalitions:

But coalition governments have been bashed for ringing in further chaos at major metros and municipalities with constant floor-crossing and power battles delaying the cause of proper service delivery.

Also Read: DA wins Tshwane back in court battle

The Tshwane municipality in the nation’s capital was won back from provincial administration through a court battle, after the DA-led coalition was beleaguered with in-fighting and corruption allegations as the ANC maintained pressure on the local government as its official opposition.

Also Read: ‘I never said DA will enter into a coalition with ANC’ – Steenhuisen

‘The problem with coalition governments said Duvenhage was that so far they had been vulnerable to floor-crossing and other power battles which have resulted in municipalities such as Mogale City being led by a DA-led coalition one day and then taken back by the ANC in the next.

Votes of no confidence and the courts have been the arenas for several tugs of war between members of coalitions and their oppositions. The poorest inhabitants of these highly contested towns remain the biggest losers in the slow battle for good local governance.

Getting the ANC below 50% the biggest goal says DA

DA spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube said the DA is of the view that local government in South Africa had all but collapsed.

Partially to blame was the endemic corruption across municipalities and metros in the country as a result of a deeply entrenched culture of corruption. This was the party’s main motivation for pursuing coalition agreements with like-minded parties.

“The most important task that we must undertake right now is to bring the ANC below 50% in as many of the municipalities that are a target and a priority for us. Our intention is obviously to govern with an outright majority in many of the municipalities that we are contesting in. However we have long held the view that the realignment of politics in inevitable and in many instances is desirable to bring the ANC below 50% and start to bring about services to the people of South Africa. So we will not hesitate to work with various political parties who share the same values and the same vision.”

Also Read: Patriotic Alliance heads to court after ANC coalition break-up

Willingness to fight corruption is non-negotiable for IFP

Meanwhile, the Inkatha Freedom Party is of the view that coalition governments alone could not deter nor deal with corruption and governance problems in local government.

IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said corruption had to be dealt with regardless of who was running things.

“Whether it is a coalition or a majority government, the fight against corruption remains necessary on its own. And that is why the IFP is committed to fighting corruption whether it’s in a coalition agreement or it’s running in a majority,” he said.

This and other non-negotiable principles of good governance and service delivery were among the party’s main talking points in coalition negotiations.

Take lessons from Madiba, says Cope

Congress of the People (COPE) spokesperson Dennis Bloem said the party was fully behind the notion of coalition governance as a solution to South Africa’s corruption problem. While admitting that coalition governments have already shown signs of weakness against corruption, they believe it is too early to completely scrap them as a solution for the governance crisis in local government.

This harkens back after 1994, when former president Nelson Mandela managed to bring the ANC and the National Party together, at a time when unity was required for governance to begin in earnest.

“That is the only solution to South Africa right now. You know when you are having a coalition government, not only in local government but in all spheres of government, that will be solution because those parties in that coalition will act as watchdogs for each other.”

Also Read: DA continues losing wards to ANC in by-elections

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