• Thabile Mange writes:
Do South African voters understand the significance of municipal elections? I don’t think so. Do they also understand the importance of voting? I hope they do, but I doubt it. Otherwise, why do they stay away from voting?
By their nature, local government elections don’t attract many voters. The recent ones were no different. Something needs to be done to improve the situation. I think voter education can help improve voter turnout at these elections. The IEC must do its job.
The recent municipal elections have produced hung municipalities. Therefore, coalition governments will be the order of the day. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing. I hope the latter applies.
In addition, the so-called king makers will take centre stage. Often these are political parties that the voters didn’t show much confidence in. Yet they will decide who governs a municipality or metro. Is that democratic?
In the last five years, we had coalition governments in a few municipalities: Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane, Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Mogale City. This time around, they have increased. It looks like this type of government will be with us for years to come.
The pertinent question is: do coalition governments work? Maybe, maybe not. However, in SA, they don’t seem to work, given the past experience. Five years may not be enough to make the above statement. But the little we’ve seen is enough …
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality was unstable from the word go. Initially it was under the DA led coalition. Athol Trolip was mayor then. Trolip was then booted out. MDCs Mongameli Bobani became mayor. Not long, the DA was back in power, with Nqaba Bhanga as mayor until the end of the term.
Tshwane municipality, which was under DA, was also chaotic. The municipality has had more than one mayor in a space of five years. At some point, it was under administration. The DA took the matter to court and won the case. It was then back in power. By the end of five years, there was not much done in as far as service delivery is concerned.
On the other hand, Ekurhuleni Municipality provided a good example of how a coalition government should be managed. There were minor, if any, problems in that municipality. The former executive mayor Mzwandile Masina (who is a candidate mayor) has even written a book on coalition government, using his municipality as a case study.
In conclusion, coalition governments don’t work in South Africa. They have proven that they are not about voters and service delivery but greedy political parties. If a solution is not found soon, local government will continue to fail to execute its mandate.
