If coalitions are our new normal, then we need to get better at it fast

One of the crucial lessons we must take from the collapse of governance, service delivery and institutional stability in Tshwane, through the post-2016 local government elections coalition in the municipality, is the need to ensure that coalition arrangements are people-centred and grounded on Section 152 municipal obligations.

Though new within the post-1994 democratic dispensation, coalition arrangements are a normal part of everyday politics within many parts of the democratic world.

To a large extent, they are primarily about attaining political power, even when there is no ideological congruence, as in South Africa.

Experience from other parts of the world does, however, indicate that ­parties with opposing ideologies can work together in a process that requires many compromises and much give and take.

The coalition arrangements in South Africa were largely informed by a desire to remove the ANC from power, hence opposition parties with no clear political programme or policy direction decided to come together to run various municipalities.

This is not a unique situation, as most coalition arrangements the world over are informed by political expediency and convenience.

These types of coalitions are prone to instability and conflict. They often work under the threat of disintegration, with “gun-to-your-head” politics becoming the order of the day.

In some instances, they can have negative electoral consequences, as they can be seen by voters as a betrayal of their votes, given that parties are often forced to work with those who are ideologically opposed to them in order to access political power - “sleeping with the enemy” as it were.

We must acknowledge that coalitions are here to stay within our politics, with many analysts and experts predicting that they will be the new normal within our body politic.

The issues we must confront if this is to be our new normal are: How do we safeguard citizens’ interests within this reality? How can we institutionalise the regulation of coalition arrangements so that Section 152 municipal obligations are not compromised? How can we safeguard the institutional stability of municipalities?

The lessons we have learnt from coalition arrangements call for the imposition of a stringent legislative and regulatory framework, as the situation allows for coalition arrangements which don’t have legal force or effect, but legal ramifications of the failure of these coalitions is far-reaching.

This is a betrayal of the electorate and can be seen as an erosion of our constitutional democracy.

When the Constitution was drafted, these were some of the things that were not foreseen, hence remedies weren’t provided in case such situations arose, creating a legislative lacuna that must be addressed for the sake of safeguarding the interests of citizens, who must not suffer from lack of service delivery due to flimsy political arrangements.

As primary custodians of local government in Gauteng, and in line with our constitutional responsibilities in that regard, we are exploring a plethora of options in order to ensure the instability, turmoil, chaos and ultimate collapse of governance and service delivery we witnessed in Tshwane and other hung municipalities in the province is not repeated in future because of coalition arrangements.

We are looking at proposing the introduction of an independent ­regulatory body for coalitions as one of the pillars and safeguards of our democracy, in the manner of chapter nine institutions.

We are also exploring the idea of proposing that written agreements be mandated whenever coalition arrangements are entered into, with formal structures for management and engagement as well as clearly set out dispute-resolution mechanisms so that governance of municipalities is not subjected to the whims of political party leaders.

The public must then be given access to the written arrangements so that they can hold coalition partners to account for what they have signed up and committed to.

The challenge, of course, is that it is politics which informs the agreement, making it difficult to enforce such agreements.

We are also looking at various case studies from other parts of the world, such as the Scandinavian countries, where coalitions have been the norm for decades, yet there is stability and service delivery.

Germany is another good case study that we can learn from. We are also studying literature from various scholars who have written extensively about coalitions and their efficacy within a democracy.

What is certain is that this new normal of coalition arrangements will require a change in our political culture, as our democracy grows into adulthood and matures.

In all of this, what must never be lost is the fundamental aspect of any democracy, which is batho pele (people first). This is what we must safeguard at all costs, even as the political terrain changes.

* Lebogang Maile is the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Urban Planning, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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