SA is caught between rising discontent by most citizens because the three spheres of government have failed to provide decent public services and the rise of the era of fragmented politics.
Of course, the two are related, with rising discontent leading to declining participation in electoral politics.
The implications of this are dire. SA won’t be able to raise the bar on the delivery of public services and speed up economic growth (which is key) unless the country’s national, provincial and local government political leaders learn — and fast — how to manage in a fragmented environment where there is no political majority.
The Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape noted last year that SA had “entered an era of multiparty governance across all three spheres of government”, a development that would likely “influence changes to the existing governance framework”. Such changes were key to making co-operative and stable governance possible across the three spheres of government, the institute said.
Lessons from France’s tripolarisation
As an article in French newspaper Le Monde pointed out last week, the key to navigating a fragmented political environment is a change in political culture, something French political leaders have been struggling with.
France had since the early 1960s lived in an environment where one party would have the parliamentary majority. This ended in 2022, when France entered the era of “tripolarisation”, replacing the traditional right-left divide.
— SA won’t be able to raise the bar on the delivery of public services and speed up economic growth unless political leaders learn ... how to manage in a fragmented environment where there is no political majority.
“The assembly’s current division between a social and environmental left, a liberal and pro-European centre and sovereigntist and identitarian far right is not some unfortunate accident: it has become a permanent feature of French political life. The absolute majority has disappeared, depriving the assembly of the bearings that had guided French politics since 1962,” wrote Le Monde journalist Anne Chemin.
Chemin noted that compromise in French politics was seen “as a wretched act that implies becoming compromised”, a view backed by French legal scholar Olivier Beaud, who is quoted in the article. “The French tradition is based on conflict, whether in companies, in unions or in the political sphere. Any compromise is seen as either a terrible betrayal or as being cowardly and compromised. So it is difficult to find parties from the republican spectrum willing to commit to coalition politics.”
The challenge of compromise in SA politics
SA faces similar circumstances of fragmentation, including within the ANC itself. Some within the party view compromise — especially when it comes to the DA — as a wretched act. They seem to hold on to the mirage that the ANC still has a chance of re-establishing its majority in the National Assembly or in the provinces where it has declined.
This view ignores the evidence. The latest quality of life survey (2023/24) by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory found that 81% of Gauteng residents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with government initiatives to grow the economy and create jobs. This was up from 60% in 2015/16. The percentage of residents who were either satisfied or very satisfied with government efforts in this regard has more than halved from 23% in 2015/16 to 10% in 2023/24.
Similar readings can be made across the country. Sentiments like these are evidence that improvements in people’s living standards are key to rebuilding trust in political processes. But in a fragmented political environment improvements in living standards can be realised only when political leaders learn to compromise.
• Sikhakhane, a former spokesperson for the finance minister, National Treasury and SA Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
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