‘German coalitions are way to go for SA’
Opposition parties that are members of the multiparty charter have sung the praises of the German culture of coalition governments, saying South African political parties could learn a lot from the system used in Europe’s largest economy.
Several opposition parties jetted into Germany for a week to learn about coalition governments. These parties the DA, the IFP, the Freedom Front Plus and ActionSA, among others have formed a pre-election pact called the multiparty charter that establishes an alliance to unseat the ANC in next year’s polls.
Sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the parties spent a week on a study tour to equip them with the necessary know-how and to give them the practical experience they need to execute a power grab.
ActionSA’s Michael Beaumont said they had learnt a great deal from Germany’s long-standing tradition of coalition governments.
“Germany is a country that has had coalitions almost [throughout the post-World War 2 period], and it is a country where coalitions work exceptionally well. There is a culture that has developed among voters and political parties around how coalitions should be run.
“Of great interest has been the focus on coalition agreements. In Germany, their agreements have been much more programmatic so more about the projects the coalition government will be focusing on, rather than high-level principle statements.”
Beaumont believed that, despite the value in that approach, it was important in the South African context for parties to form a pre-election agreement, as the Germans had the luxury of time after elections to negotiate their alliances, unlike in South Africa.
The DA’s John Steenhuisen praised the Germans’ loyalty to their coalition partners, taking a jab at its former coalition partner the Patriotic Alliance. He hit out at the party for crossing the floor and abandoning a DAled coalition in Johannesburg to join an ANC/EFF grouping.
“Though the coalition agreements are not legally binding, they are regarded as sacrosanct once they have been agreed to and signed. There [have been] virtually no examples of parties leaving the coalition and switching sides. The Patriotic Alliance would not do well in the German environment!” he quipped.
The FF Plus’s Pieter Groenewald reflected on German parties’ flexibility in choosing their alliance partners, saying who they plumped for as an ally depended on context.
“On a federal level, they might not work with a certain party, but at provincial level they will enter into a coalition with that party. There are different combinations between a particular political party and others.”
The IFP’s Velenkosini Hlabisa shared these sentiments, commending the flexibility
For a successful coalition, there must be flexibility, but [this must be achieved] without compromising your core values and principles
Velenkosini Hlabisa
IFP
of German parties in forming working relations with each other.
“One major observation was that coalitions in Germany [do not] take the same configuration in all the different spheres of government. When it is in [a party’s] best interests to work with Party A at local level, that does not compel them to work [with that party] at the national level.”
Hlabisa said the members of the multiparty charter had learnt valuable lessons from their study trip.
“For a successful coalition, there must be flexibility, but [this must be achieved] without compromising your core values and principles. Respect for each other is key in the coalition, [as well as] treating each other as equal partners,” he said.