Coalitions are the future, says Maimane
COALITION governments are the way of the future.
This was the consensus of some of the opposition parties who gathered in Rosebank, Joburg, yesterday to discuss the recently approved 2018/19 budgets of the three DA-led metros: Joburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.
Heading the meeting was DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
“Coalitions are the future… but we are already on the way to success through our current coalitions,” Maimane said.
He added that coalitions were helping in the fight against fraud and corruption, as there were several parties keeping an eye on matters of governance.
Speaking about the 2019 elections, the DA leader said the aim was to reduce the ANC majority to under 50%.
All the opposition parties would continue to run their own campaigns, reflecting their political beliefs and interests, independent of the coalitions in local government.
“We will form new coalitions after the 2019 elections. We have learnt about the reality of coalition partnerships over the past two years.
“The ANC, in fact, has its own coalition within its party. We need change and the ANC cannot be allowed to dominate any longer,” Maimane said.
Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota lashed out at the ANC, saying the coalitions had been formed “to bring change in government at local level”.
“Local government is closest to our people, whose daily lives are affected by poor service delivery,” Lekota said.
The coalition had uncovered “layers and layers of redundant staff, which had been appointed by cadres”, and a process was now being followed to remove those who were unqualified, he added.
The Joburg coalition, in particular, said Lekota, showed what had to be done to accommodate South Africans.
The city was in the process of expropriating abandoned inner-city buildings and getting the private sector to refurbish them to provide accommodation for local people to live closer to their place of work, he added.
ACDP leader JoAnn Downs said there could be a future in the country only if people representing different races, cultures and political viewpoints united and worked together.
The City of Tshwane had been turned around, she said, by coalition parties acting together in improving basic service delivery.
Pieter Groenewald of the FF Plus agreed that coalitions were working.
“The only way to get a majority over the ANC is through coalition governments, and we have proved these work,” he said.