The instability experienced in coalition-run councils including Gauteng's metros is more about politics and power than service delivery, says governance expert and former Joburg city manager Trevor Fowler.
He questioned the coalition governments’ track record in local government over the past five years, saying: “I don’t think they were focused on service delivery ... [they were] focused on unseating each other.”
Fowler, whose remarks were mostly focused on the Joburg metro, was speaking during a panel discussion at the SA Local Government Association’s (Salga’s) Gauteng provincial elective congress in Muldersdrift outside Johannesburg on Tuesday. The discussion centred on challenges facing local government and what needs to be done to address them.
The ANC lost control of the Joburg metro, SA’s richest municipality, to a DA-led coalition after the watershed municipal elections in 2016. The ANC, however, regained control of council in 2019 after Herman Mashaba quit the DA and announced his resignation as DA Joburg mayor in October 2019. The municipality again fell into a DA-led coalition after the local government elections on November 1 2021.
Fowler, who is a professor at the Wits School of Governance, said coalitions tended to focus more on clinging power than addressing challenges faced by people at grassroots level. He said decisions were not made “on the basis of what’s best for our communities at all times”.
The Gauteng metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, which are run by a coalition led by the DA, have been rocked by instability due to infighting. This has led to Joburg and Tshwane councils struggling to elect chairs of portfolio committees recently. The EFF, ANC and minority parties wanted voting to be conducted through a secret ballot, while the governing coalition favoured a show of hands.
The portfolio committee heads for Johannesburg were finally elected during a third attempt after previous sittings were disrupted by ANC, EFF and minority party councillors who were unhappy with the voting procedure. It is feared that the disruptions could result in the metros being unable to pass their budgets and service delivery plans, thus affecting more than 10-million residents.
After their election in November, the DA mayors running the three metros promised transparency and improved service delivery to communities. During the panel discussion, however, Fowler pointed out that there was more to demanding transparency than meets the eye.
“The coalition in power wants transparency ... [because they] want to see which small party is going to vote against you, [and the] reason [for opposition parties to demand a secret ballot is to] get the small party to come to you,” he said, adding that governing coalitions were mostly focused on staying in power “as opposed to service delivery”.
He called for the coalition agreements to be made public, “then you will be able to see what’s happening”.
On Monday, Herman Mashaba, leader of ActionSA, which is part of fragile minority governments running Gauteng’s three metros, warned that Ekurhuleni’s could fall apart due to infighting among coalition partners.
Mashaba said a proposal by the EFF for its councillors to be elected as portfolio committee heads was declined by the coalition partners, and singled out Ekurhuleni, saying the coalition there could be short-lived as some partners were apparently more committed than others to make it last long enough to survive an “imminent” motion of no confidence by the ANC, or to pass a budget.
He warned that failing to consider the EFF’s proposal “will seal the fate of the coalition in Ekurhuleni” because “the mathematical fact is that the support of the EFF is the only viable option for the Ekurhuleni coalition government to survive what is likely to be an ANC-sponsored motion of no confidence within the next month or two”.
“It is also the only way that a sufficient majority could be obtained to approve a budget and the service delivery plans of the city in May in the unlikely event that the coalition lasts until then,” Mashaba said.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.