COALITIONS STILL HOLDING FIVE MONTHS ON
WHEN the DA entered into coalition agreements following the August municipal elections, which helped the party take control of half of the country’s metros, no one knew how long this marriage of convenience would last.
It has been five months and according to the DA and its partners, the deal has stuck.
But, like in any relationship, there are still ups and downs as people get to know each other and their politics.
The DA signed a coalition agreement with four opposition parties – the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Congress of the People, Freedom Front Plus and the African Christian Democratic Party.
DA executive chairman James Selfe, who was instrumental in negotiating coalition deals, is wary about whether the coalition agreements would hold, saying they were going “surprisingly well”.
“There obviously, as is the case in all coalitions, some teething problems as people get to know one another since they come from different traditions and have different ways of articulating political views.
“But I am very encouraged by the willingness by our coalition partners to articulate what they want and engage in give-and-take and to see the bigger picture.
“It is what we want, eventually for there to be a realignment of South African politics, in which the current governing party is removed from power,” he said.
This was what drove the Economic Freedom Fighters’ decision not to go into any coalition agreements, but to vote with other opposition parties to remove the ANC from some of the metros and municipalities.
“We vote with opposition parties to minimise and undo the ruling party ... We’re not going to vote for the ANC here,” EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.
“But that doesn’t mean that when these people do budgets we’re not going to be critical or disagree, we going to fight.”
The EFF voted for the DA in Johannesburg‚ Tshwane‚ Nelson Mandela Bay and Ekurhuleni.
Because of this the DA was able to take control in three previously ANC-run metros – Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.
The DA also retained its hold on Cape Town.
The ANC managed to hold onto Ekurhuleni, thanks to African Independent Congress (AIC), the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and the Patriotic Alliance.
This coalition agreement, however, came with a strong demand from the AIC – return Matatiele to KwaZulu-Natal.
Matatiele was moved from KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape in 2005 and the AIC has been fighting to reverse that decision.
Five months on, the AIC has become impatient and is already threatening to pull out of the coalition, which could see the ANC lose Ekurhuleni and the Rustenburg local municipality in North West.
Moving to Nelson Mandela Bay, there were murmurs of a possible collapse of the DA-led coalition when deputy mayor, and UDM member Mongameli Bobani, and his colleague Thoko Tshangela boycotted a council meeting – meaning there was no quorum.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said it was as a result of an “administrative” issue surrounding the appointment of the municipal manager, but this had been sorted out after a meeting with the DA. “We are trying to sort out the mess we inherited from the ANC, but it looks like the mayor and his deputy didn’t sing from the same hymn song on how to sort it out,” Holomisa said.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) managed to claw back some of its control in KwaZulu-Natal by entering into a cooperation with the DA and the EFF. Both parties agreed to vote with the IFP in the province’s hung municipalities in exchange for IFP helping the DA take Johannesburg and Mogale City.