‘Play the party, not the ball’ – Inside ANC’s strategy to destabilise municipal coalitions

While the ANC engages in a cynical political strategy to destabilise municipal coalitions to scare voters into believing smaller parties cannot govern, the concept of multiparty government is being threatened by political bullying as well as the egos of individual politicians.

‘Ultimate political game’

Political economy analyst Daniel Silke said the ANC is currently helping to derail municipal coalitions in an attempt to “send a message to the electorate that coalitions don’t work and therefore the electorate should not vote for smaller parties, given the instability that can be caused as a result”.

He added the ANC is “playing the ultimate political game” by being prepared to accept municipal instability would severely disrupt service delivery but would remove the opposition like the Democratic Alliance (DA) or even ActionSA from power.

“The ANC is prepared to put anyone in power to undermine any kind of opposition-led coalition that could be a threat to the ANC in the metros,” he said.

ALSO READ: Instead of looking to the future, ANC govt remains entrenched in the past

The ANC is unhappy the opposition-led coalition administrations performed better in terms of service delivery and are more honest and accountable.

“This is particularly important to do from the ANC’s perspective in the big cities like Tshwane, Johannesburg and elsewhere because these are, of course, star metros that everybody wants to control.”

The political power plays are, according to another analyst, Sandile Swana, spoiling South Africa’s democracy because “bigger parties bully the smaller parties which, in turn, allow themselves to be used as pawns to keep big chaps in power”.

‘Political blunder’

Swana said the DA’s decision to refuse to work with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the coalitions was a big mistake.

He said DA’s anti-ANC stance had cost it the City of Joburg, which it lost to the ANC.

The previous coalition with the EFF in Johannesburg worked well, with smooth service delivery and political stability under then DA mayor Herman Mashaba.

Post-Mashaba, the DA federal leadership took a stand to work with anyone but the EFF.

The EFF took revenge by aligning with the ANC and others to oust the DA mayors in Joburg and Tshwane, with Ekurhuleni’s mayor their next target.

Lately, the DA has even been keen to form a coalition with the ANC, minus the EFF.

RELATED: DA scored own goal with ‘unlawful’ votes for Tshwane speaker

But the ANC has stated it would prefer a coalition with the EFF to one with the DA as they are ideologically close to each other.

Swana believes the DA made a huge political blunder to fight with both the ANC and the EFF instead of cooperating with the EFF to form a strong anti-ANC coalition in Joburg and elsewhere.

Silke added currently voters do not have a cohesive political party they like because they are disillusioned with service delivery and the state of the country.

He said the ANC, DA and the EFF were unable to gather a mass of critical voters but all were shedding support and left with their core supporters.

“Due to voters being all over the place due to their disgruntlement, there would emerge a multitude of smaller parties to vie for power in future coalition administrations, as is the case in the bigger metros where even the smallest parties with one or two representatives became kingmakers in the municipalities,” Silke said.

‘Boss of coalitions’

Coalitions will never be successful, Swana said, while parties fail to act pragmatically and accept partnerships mean getting into bed with political enemies.

He said the DA has not accepted there is a need to form coalitions, even with communists, socialists and so on.

“You don’t go into a government of national unity with people who agree with you.

“Nelson Mandela demonstrated this by going into a government of national unity with the apartheid government and despite the fact apartheid itself was declared as a crime against humanity.

“The idea the DA wants to go into a coalition with people who subscribe generally to the Western liberal democracy model and specifically to the corporate liberal democracy of Germany, a model the DA promotes, is unlikely to win the day.

READ MORE: Coalition governance makes no difference, according to experts

“This has pitted the DA against the ANC and the EFF at the same time and those people hold about 50% at least of the national vote.

“The DA, by taking the stance it has taken to want to be the boss of coalitions and lead them into a very limited paradigm, rather than be accommodative of other views, is going to suffer,” Swana said.

The central question on who should govern in South Africa revolves around the black political parties and the liberation movement in particular.

“There is a culture of looting and immorality. This means when these coalitions are formed, this needs to be cleared out of the way so there are free and fair dealings with the resources of South Africa and to focus on service delivery and uplifting all South Africans to a higher standard of living, regardless of complexion,” Swana said.