A coalition government at provincial or national level will not work in South Africa because political leaders are driven by selfish interests, a political analyst has warned.
A COALITION government at provincial or national level will not work in South Africa because political leaders are driven by selfish interests, a political analyst has warned.
Thabani Khumalo says the recent developments in the City of Johannesburg, where councillor Vasco da Gama was removed as Speaker through a vote of no confidence, demonstrate the chaotic nature of coalitions in local government.
The City of Johannesburg is run by a coalition of parties that managed to oust the ANC last year.
Following last year’s local government elections in which the ANC suffered massive losses, there has been a lot of talk and predictions that the country will in the future be run under a coalition arrangement.
In the eThekwini Metro, the ANC managed to cling to power by entering into a coalition arrangement with the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC), led by former ANC leader Philani Mavundla and other smaller parties.
At the provincial conference recently, the ANC acknowledged the difficulty of running the city under the coalition arrangement because it had to lobby for every decision that had to be made.
Khumalo said failing coalitions at local government level did not suggest that such arrangements would succeed at the national level.
“If coalition governments have failed at local government where political leadership is supposed to be guided by common local challenges and aspirations which include the provision of basic services such as housing, water, energy, safety, transport, etc – expecting coalitions to succeed where political leadership and administration are influenced and guided by political ideologies – is a pipe dream,” said Khumalo.
The reason behind the failure, he believed, was the greed of political leaders.
He cited the government of National Unity in 1994 with the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the National Party as a reflection of the time when leaders were driven by the desire to serve.
“The government of National Unity demonstrated what could be achieved through a coalition arrangement, but that was then when there was a commitment to serving the people, not individuals,” Khumalo stressed.
“Each time when political pundits predict that the 2024 elections are likely to produce coalition governments, I sweat. Such outcomes will confirm over SA a ‘failed state’ status,” the analyst continued.
He urged South Africans to vote decisively in the coming elections and give one party a clear mandate, concluding that the county is not yet ready for coalition governments.
