Labour federations, representing hundreds of thousands of workers, have welcomed the introduction of a draft bill aimed at bringing stability into the beleaguered local government sector.
If enacted, the provisions in the bill could help improve service delivery and the functioning of coalition-run councils, they said.
Cosatu acting national spokesperson Matthew Parks said the new bill responded positively to the “instability we have seen across many municipalities where parties have been unable to form coalitions or where coalitions have been inherently unstable”.
Co-operative governance & traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Thembi Nkadimeng introduced for public comment the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill of 2023, which was published in the Government Gazette recently.
It was devised to overhaul the country’s local government laws by making it more difficult to remove executive mayors, speakers, and chief whips.
It also calls for the election or removal from office of municipal office bearers to be by a show of hands rather than a secret ballot. “This is done to avert a situation whereby corrupt activities influence voting in council meetings,” the draft bill states.
We cannot afford to allow the chaos of coalitions to undermine service delivery. That is a price workers cannot afford
— Matthew Parks, Cosatu acting national spokesperson
The draft bill is also aimed at strengthening hung local councils by calling for written and “binding coalition agreements” between parties.
“The provisions in the draft bill provide a progressive framework for further engagements. Many of the proposals are similar to those made by Cosatu at the Dialogue on a Framework for Coalition Governments convened by the deputy president [Paul Mashatile] in 2023,” said Parks.
“We look forward to further engagements on these. We need a sober bipartisan approach that focuses on providing stability in government and enables the state to focus on service delivery and good governance.
“We cannot afford to allow the chaos of coalitions to undermine service delivery. That is a price workers cannot afford.”
SA Federation of Trade Unions national spokesperson Trevor Shaku said the bill introduced significant changes.
“In municipalities where there was no outright majority, the process of constituting councils has been a nightmare as party interests delayed this process. Consequently, this led to delays in municipalities doing their central duty of delivering services and serving their communities,” said Shaku.
“This legislative change ... will certainly stabilise local government as it will nudge parties to constitute coalitions quickly and erect municipal councils.”
He said the instability created by competing interests of political parties in coalitions meant mayors were changed almost immediately after being installed.
“Demonstrating this madness, the City of Joburg had four mayors in just two years. In the eight-year period of the coalition government, infrastructure maintenance has deteriorated to low levels. The explosion that happened at Bree Street in July 2023 is still not fixed.
“This is the most important and congested street of the CBD, and due to poor service delivery, is still closed almost a year later. Clearly, the citizens are at the receiving end of the instability of these coalition governments.”
Shaku said the draft bill would relatively “stabilise the local government by improving the functionality of municipalities governed by coalitions, continuity of projects and service delivery”.
However, National Council of Trade Unions general secretary Narius Moloto said the draft bill fell short of dealing with “real issues that are fundamental to the stability of the local government”.
He said the draft bill interfered with the constitutional rights of political parties and independent candidates.
“All elected councillors must have the same rights in the council and this bill seeks to take away and/or reduce them to nobodies in the council. Not long ago the Constitutional Court gave them rights and the [draft bill] seeks to counter those rights,” said Moloto.
Federation of Trade Unions of SA general secretary Riefdah Ajam said they would comment after sharing their input on the draft bill with the department of co-operative governance & traditional affairs.
Written submissions from the public must reach the department on or before July 5.
The draft bill is intended to change municipalities with a mayoral executive system in which no party obtained a majority of seats “to a collective executive system within a prescribed period”.
It also provides for a minimum threshold of 1% of the valid votes cast during an election “for a party to qualify for a seat on the council”.
The draft bill comes after several councils including Gauteng’s three metros of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane were rocked by political instability as represented political parties played musical chairs due to the 2016 local government elections failing to produce clear winners.
In SA’s economic and financial hub of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda of the Al Jama-ah party — which holds three seats in the 270-seat council — is the ninth mayor of Joburg since the 2016 local government elections.
According to the proposed legislation, a municipal council may by resolution taken by a show of hands remove its executive mayor, deputy executive mayor, the whip, speaker and MMCs “provided that two years have passed” since their election.
The municipal council, however, may remove the office bearers from office at any time if the removal is on the grounds of “a serious violation of the constitution or the law; serious misconduct; or inability to perform the functions of office”, states the draft bill.
The SA Local Government Association, the employer body representing the country’s 257 municipalities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.