Desperation takes over as coalition deals are struck

Rigid policy principles seem to be the stumbling blocks to the establishment of coalitions in the ongoing talks among political rivals after the municipal elections.

The process is now threatened by a looming deadline to settle, or face an election rerun.

But in some cases, the ideological differences were brushed aside – as desperation began to take hold after some parties faced up to rejections.

Despite warnings from political experts that political leaders must consider service delivery as a priority rather than principle, some stuck to their ideological guns.

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ActionSA and the Democratic Alliance, which share ideological principles and free market values, have a common enemy, the ANC. Their policies indicate clearly there is no way they could cooperate with the ANC, while the DA is completely opposed to the EFF.

The parties’ coalition talks fell flat because of “difficult” demands which had become the bone of contention in the ongoing negotiation process.

Coalition demands:

ActionSA

• Coalition with any party that shares ActionSA’s core values;
• The deal must have a service delivery agenda and a list of priorities;
• The deal must be pro-poor and pro-business at the same time, with a commitment to build revenue;
• The coalition code of agreement must include rules of engagement; and
• An agreement to investigate corruption that might have occurred in the past five years in the municipality.

ANC

The ANC does not appear to have demands except to offer power-sharing deals to potential coalition partners.

It’s negotiation strategy is based on a give and take approach and trading on positions such as the mayorship
and speaker, and to give certain municipalities to the minority partners in exchange for votes in council.

Patriotic Alliance

The party is steadfast on its demand for power sharing and not principle. The party demanded positions like mayor and mayoral committee appointments for its councillors.

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