Collective executive system better option than messy coalitions

Coalition politics is messy. Ask any of the former mayors ousted in Nelson Mandela Bay since 2016. The city has seen a string of people sitting in that office, some for just a few months. Eventually they have to pack up and go because smaller parties change their alliances at the drop of a hat for several reasons. But mostly it is all about survival and not really service delivery as residents are forgotten while smaller parties scramble to secure their seats and salaries.

These smaller parties will argue it is all about service delivery but at the forefront of forming any new coalition for them is positions — from the mayoral executive committee to political appointees. This happened after the 2021 local government elections when an ANC-led coalition took over and again when power shifted to a DA-led coalition in September.

The bigger parties (ANC and DA) were forced to make sacrifices as the smaller parties demanded more.

The latest floor crossing by smaller parties could see the removal of the DA’s Retief Odendaal as mayor. A petition was filed calling for the removal of Odendaal, deputy mayor Khusta Jack, speaker Gary van Niekerk and chief whip Bill Harington on Wednesday.

The parties want Odendaal out because of his alleged failure to act against Jack after an auditor-general’s report implicated two companies associated with him in business dealings with the metro.

Jack has denied wrongdoing and though the auditor-general has cleared him of being involved with one of the companies flagged, a finding on a second still remains.

But we have seen this movie before when alliances shift. The smaller parties jump ship as better options are given to them.

It is not about us. It is about their own interests. It does, however, not have to be a dirty game of musical chairs that sees coalitions collapse on the whim of a few.

It is for this reason that a switch from a mayoral executive system to a collective executive is starting to sound like the better option for our city.

It would see the ANC and DA working together on a 10person committee, with one seat each given to the EFF and Northern Alliance.

The parties would have no choice but to put us first.