Coalition Councils in South African Local Government: Analysis of the Challenges and Possible Solutions

Abstract

Coalition government is an old phenomenon that has got its roots in Western European countries. It has since spread all over the world including in South Africa. Coalitions in the local sphere of government have existed predominantly in KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape, but it has since spread over to other provinces in South Africa. The outcome of the 2016 local government elections brought about dramatic results which saw the governments of three metropolitan municipalities change hands to coalitions of political parties. The Democratic Alliance (DA) and other small parties with the assistance of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) constituted coalition governments in Nelson Mandela Bay (in Eastern Cape), City of Tshwane, and Johannesburg in Gauteng province. However, the DA mayor and his executive in Nelson Mandela Bay have since been removed with the one from the United Democratic Movement (UDM) as a mayor and the executives from the African National Congress (ANC) and other smaller parties. The EFF announced in July 2019 that it will not vote with the DA or ANC in all municipalities where coalition councils must be formed. This paper seeks to identify challenges associated with coalition governments in the local sphere of government and propose possible solutions for curtailing such challenges. The paper does so by way of reviewing existing literature related to coalitions and alliances of municipal governments in South Africa. One of the challenges is the differing policy positions of the political parties in the coalition. This paper proposes that the needs and service delivery demands of the local communities must be given more preference over the political ideologies of the political parties concerned.