Coalitions: Do not overlook the EFF in small, hung municipalities
Independent election analyst Wayne Sussman says the EFF should not be ignored in coalition talks.
The DA did not manage to translate its good service delivery track record in the councils it governed into extra votes during the local government elections in November.
This rings especially true in the smaller municipalities in South Africa, which make up the bulk of the 66 hung councils.
A good example of this is the Modimolle-Mookgophong Local Municipality in Limpopo. After the local elections in 2016, the municipality was run by DA mayor Marlene van Staden, in coalition with the FF+ and with the support of the EFF.
They managed to bring some stability to a municipality (consisting of Modimolle, Vaalwater, Mookgophong) that was once a ticking time bomb, with residents protesting about the lack of service delivery.
This despite the technically bankrupt municipality being placed under provincial administration in 2018, and Treasury recommending in September 2020 that some officials who presided over the awarding of tenders before the new administration took over in 2016, be prosecuted.
The municipality managed to fix some of the infrastructures that led to the lack of service delivery. Water supply was stabilised, and an agreement was reached to ensure continued electricity supply, despite an Eskom debt of over R200m.
This, however, did not earn the DA any extra votes in the November election. The ANC managed to get 14 of the council’s 28 seats. The DA, FF+, and the EFF collectively hold the other 14 seats.
“The ANC managed to increase their popularity in certain places, especially Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, which can explain the fact that the DA did not gain ground,” says independent election analyst Wayne Sussman.
He says the DA’s ability to gain a municipality like Modimolle-Mookgophong had more to do with the ANC’s lack of popularity than the DA’s ability to get things done.
“With Cyril Ramaphosa gaining support in Limpopo, it was meant to be a hard-fought battle,” he says.
According to Sussman, the DA and other opposition parties will do well to realise that the EFF is a reality that will not go away, even if they refuse to work with the party.
“In Thabazimbi, for example, the EFF supported the DA mayor, rather than the local Thabazimbi Residents Association and the Thabazimbi Forum for Service Delivery.”
Sussman says this is a sign of pragmatism by the EFF. In the quest for stability, the party decided to support the DA, rather than other parties, because the DA did better than the other parties.
This is the type of pragmatism that will be the difference between stable municipalities and municipalities that fall apart in a few months, says Sussman, adding that the DA should take note of this. But it is also something the ANC should be worried about, he adds.
Therefore, let the EFF be part of coalitions; let’s give them a chance to govern where they get the chance. Let’s give them a grace period; it will be interesting to see what the results will be, Sussman says.
WATCH: Journalist Izak du Plessis talks to independent election analyst Wayne Sussman about why the DA’s success in running municipalities did not translate into increased votes in small municipalities.
