Coalitions leave citizens with little say in governments
Whoever dreamt up the phrase “be careful what you wish for” may have been thinking of coalition governments in SA. In Johannesburg and Tshwane, as in other municipalities over the past few years, voters are being reminded that coalition governments are not all they are cracked up to be.
When it became clear that coalitions were on the way here, it excited many people. The ANC’s power would be reduced, giving more citizens a say. Parties would watch over each other to stem corruption. Minority governments as in Johannesburg and Tshwane might give citizens more power because if the governing party rejected their ideas they could turn to other parties and try to assemble majority support.
None of this has happened. The parties make deals without bothering about what voters think, so citizens have no say in who does what to whom. Despite overblown claims by the EFF that former DA Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba was following its agenda, cases in which smaller parties have insisted on placing their stamp on policy are rare.
Nor has coalition government reduced corruption. Parties don’t watch over each other; they share out the spoils or the biggest party lets the others use the council as a bank in exchange for keeping it in government. Voters don’t play parties off against each other because activists never use the opportunities to influence policy that minority government creates.
Coalitions and minority government arrangements here also fall apart easily as political fashions change or parties with one or two representatives are offered a better deal. The instability increases the pressure to buy smaller parties off. One reason for this is that there are no “natural” coalitions in our politics.
The three biggest parties are not comfortable with governing with either of the other two the DA-EFF arrangements were a product of a temporary, mutual loathing of a Jacob Zuma-led ANC. The two biggest black-led parties will find it difficult to enter a coalition with a DA that downplays racism in any event, a section of the DA does not want arrangements with them.
The ANC and EFF are a likelier coalition, but there is little trust between them.
So, larger parties that fall short of 50% can govern only with the support of small parties. But that is not always possible because the bigger party needs to win near 50% to form a majority with them: in Tshwane, for example, no party has enough to govern in this way. The only way anyone can govern is through opportunistic deals between bigger parties, which are more about looking after politicians than serving people. The current horsetrading over mayoralties is an obvious example.
If a deal with smaller parties is possible, this is rarely based on a shared policy platform that is made public: the biggest party sets the agenda and the others enjoy the spoils of office. While some smaller parties are in politics because they want to represent people, not all are and so some join coalitions for the goodies office brings.
What can voters do about this? In theory, they could vote to make a coalition less likely, but mostly that will mean voting for a party the voter does not like. Even if people thought this price worth paying, there is no guarantee others will vote the same way, so no individual can do much to ensure there is no coalition.
The surer option is to demand that coalitions account and punish them if they do not. Coalitions and minority governments have mostly enjoyed a free ride from citizens and the media, which has not called them to account. They are sure to remain a problem until that changes. ● Friedman is research professor with the humanities faculty of the University of
Johannesburg.