South Africa embraces coalition rule

By Bonginkosi M.Dube PP

According Wikipedia.org, coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held or a motion of no confidence is taken.

Political scientist, Professor William Gumede says that South Africa is almost certainly headed towards an era of coalition politics – and that this could be a good thing.

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Chairperson Glen Mashinini has officially declared the 2021 Local Government Elections as free and fair. This as the IEC announced the final results of the elections at the National Results Operations Centre in Pretoria on Thursday.

More than 12 million South Africans cast their ballots to vote for candidates they prefer to represent them in the country’s 257 municipal councils.

The African National Congress (ANC) clinched the majority seats in 161 municipal councils, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 13 municipalities which is closely followed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) which now holds majority seats in 10 municipal councils.

The ruling party attracted 46.04% of the overall vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance at (21.84%). The IEC noted that at least 66 municipal councils are hung.

Results for the eight metropolitan municipalities:

Buffalo City

• ANC: 59.43%

• DA: 19.52%

• EFF: 12.06%

City of Cape Town

• DA: 58.22%

• ANC: 18.63%

• EFF: 4.13%

Ekurhuleni

• ANC: 38.19%

• DA: 28.72%

• EFF: 13.57%

EThekwini

•  ANC: 42.2%

•  DA: 25.6%

•  EFF: 10.49%

City of Johannesburg

•  ANC: 33.60%

•  DA: 26.47%

•  Action SA: 16.05%

Mangaung

•  ANC: 50.63%

•  DA: 25.73%

•  EFF: 11.31%

Nelson Mandela Bay

•  DA: 39.92%

•  ANC: 39.43%

•  EFF: 6.40%

City of Tshwane

•  ANC: 34.31%

•  DA: 32.34%

•  EFF: 10.62%

Many questions have arisen around the likelihood and effectiveness of coalition politics. “The diverse nature of our country needs a coalition government rather than one-party rule,” said Gumede at the Nedgroup Investments MultiManager Insights event.

“While there has been a lot of criticism around coalitions – mainly based on some spectacular but isolated failures in certain provinces – there have actually been some very successful coalitions. The key is ensuring they are in place for the right reasons.”

Gumede said a coalition is likely to fail if it exists purely to oppose the party in power. “A coalition must be based on joint policies – and, crucially, there must be a conflict mechanism in place.”

Dealing with legacy – why voters vote for loyalty and not delivery

According to Gumede, the issue of many South Africans voting based on their loyalty to the ANC and not necessarily the delivery of the promises they have made is a big issue for the country to address to achieve progress.

“This is not unique to South Africa and is prevalent in many developing countries where political parties have played very crucial roles in history. However, the problem of accountability arises when a political party knows that people will vote for them based on loyally.

“There is no incentive to deliver on difficult challenges like service delivery. We are seeing that unfold in South Africa at the moment,” he said.

He also raises the point that many ANC supporters come from a political culture when protesting on the streets achieves a more immediate response, so it is therefore perceived to be more effective than casting a single vote.

“Many people also don’t think that voting against their party is an effective way to make them more accountable – so this is a very difficult but important concept to overcome before we will see real progress,” he said.

Additional Info by: businesstech.co.za