The ANC is set to hold its national policy conference this weekend and one of the key issues likely to dominate debate is that of coalition governments, which it says is compromising its values and governance.
The party has been faring very badly in elections, losing support in areas generally seen as its strongholds. In a number of metros and municipalities, it has been forced to join coalition governments with smaller parties with widely divergent views to it or go into opposition.
Coalition politics in SA is a new phenomenon, and most of the coalitions the ANC cobbled together to govern have collapsed as parties jockeyed for positions.
“Instead, the ANC must build on strong opposition to sway the support of voters in our favour and work towards regaining power and control,” the governing party says in a recent edition of its Umrabulo magazine.
The magazine’s special edition in May focused on the ANC’s policy conference to be held from July 28-31, a few months before the national elective conference (NEC) in December, where embattled President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to seek a second term as leader.
A ‘preoccupation with self-interest’
The ANC admits the results of the local government elections on November 1 were “devastating” for the former liberation movement, as it lost control of Gauteng metros of Johannesburg, the administrative capital of Tshwane and Ekurhuleni to a DA-led multiparty coalition. Its national electoral support fell below 50% for the first time since 1994.
The party only won two of the eight metros in the country in the last elections with an outright majority in Mangaung and Buffalo City.
“We lost 1,500 proportional and ward-councillor seats ... The ANC is now in opposition or minority government or coalitions in 83 out of 257 municipalities — almost one third of municipalities,” the publication said.
The party, currently riddled with factionalism, is faced with operational, administrative and financial problems, which have seen it fail to pay its staff salaries on time for several months. Assessing the problems, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the ANC had become arrogant and out of touch with SA. Former Gauteng provincial chair David Makhura has also lashed out at the party's “preoccupation with self-interest”.
The ANC is now in opposition or minority government or coalitions in 83 out of 257 municipalities — almost one third of municipalities.
— The ANC's Umrabulo magazine
The ANC said according to its own research, the main reasons why voters stayed away from the polls last year was because they had lost trust in the party and are dissatisfied with its track record on delivering basic services such as water, electricity, roads, sewerage and refuse removal and stimulating local economic development.
“They think we are not serious about fighting and acting against corruption, against the abuse of public resource,” it said.
“These sentiments show that the movement has seriously lost its connection with the people and that its performance in government is not up to par. This situation must therefore be a serious wake-up call for the renewal of our movement.
“The ANC is in outright control of most of the poorest municipalities, many are not financially viable (about two-thirds of municipalities). This has a massive impact on our ability to deliver services and local development.”
Umrabulo said ANC delegates to the policy conference should look at how to make the most of coalition governments given the challenges of working with parties that do not have the same strategic objectives as theirs.
“But if you look at coalition formations, say, from 2016 to date, they have been short lived, they have fallen apart, most of them, and that affects service delivery. I think to make them work requires an independent body to enforce some of the agreements agreed on,” political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said.
Another political analyst, Levy Ndou, said while coalitions in the country did not have a proper framework, their future is “very bright” and they “appear to be here to stay”.
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