KINGMAKERS SPEAK AS ONE:

SOUTH Africa’s political kingmakers have laid down the terms under which they will enter coalitions with either the ANC or the DA to run the country’s hung metros and municipalities.

A meeting between kingmaking political parties, which include the UDM, EFF, COPE and the UF, has seen the publication of points which are key to forming the coalitions.

These include service delivery, budget reviews and constitutional reforms.

The publication of the “collective view”, as it is known, follows hints by DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Solly Msimang that negotiations on a coalition to govern the capital may include talks around a national agreement that would also create governments in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

Neither the DA nor the ANC have a sufficient percentage of votes to govern alone in Tshwane, Johannesburg or Ekurhuleni and require the formation of coalitions.

The DA has indicated it is already in negotiations with other opposition parties.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, who released the kingmakers’ collective view yesterday, said the parties that signed the document had spoken with one voice.

“In terms of long-term issues, such as constitutional reform matters like the land question, property ownership, nationalisation and party funding legislation, the ANC and DA must commit to time frames,” he said.

Holomisa said they believed that the future success of South Africa required a commitment by all political parties to cooperative governance through coalitions.

“We will engage in discussion that will advance the interests of all citizens.”

He said the glue that must bind all political parties was the commitment to provide basic services to all.

For the kingmakers, what is of immediate necessity is agreement on, among others:

Provision of clean water, especially in rural areas;

Speedy provision of quality shelter;

Electrification of all rural areas;

Better waste-management systems;

An end to e-tolls;

Prioritisation and formalisation of early childhood development;

Creation of sustainable jobs; and ý Removal of President Jacob Zuma, who they say is the embodiment of corruption, as head of state.

Holomisa said the group had agreed that as a matter of urgency, municipal budgets had to be reviewed to ensure maximum resourcing for their priority demands.

He said they were calling for the downsizing of the cabinet to save resources.

“The executive mayoral system must be looked at in terms of whether it is best suitable to deliver,” Holomisa said.

“There needs to be a system that ... ensures fewer bottlenecks in servicing the people, who must be placed at the centre of development.”

He said public service must remain a professional function and the state must be separate from a political party.

“Any cooperation will require strong commitments to the need to service the people and put communities first.”