Cape Town – Deputy President Paul Mashatile has warned that some of the coalitions in local government are about making deals and not delivery of services to the people.
He said the country had experienced a lot of upheaval and instability in local government since the 2021 polls.
He said this was due to the increase in the number of hung councils after the elections.
Mashatile, who was answering questions in the National Council of Provinces, said they need to develop a framework that will guide the formation of coalition governments.
He said the South African Local Government Association had already developed a guide on coalitions before the 2021 elections.
But the government would have to tighten it up and make it a national framework for all municipalities, to avoid instability.
“While working towards the dialogue, government will review the negative impact of dysfunctional coalition arrangements and its effect on service delivery,” said Mashatile.
He said coalitions must prioritise service delivery and not positions.
What was happening is that in some of the coalition governments it was about making deals and nothing else.
“In some of the coalitions you can see that when those coalitions are set up, it’s not really about the people. We want this framework to be able to guide all municipalities, put the people first and ensure that coalitions should be put, in the first place, for the benefit of the people to improve service delivery,” said Mashatile.
“I did say we must put the framework that will guide how these coalitions are being set up. I agree with you that when we need a regulatory framework because yes, indeed, we can’t say we always blame the problems of local government on coalitions.
“But what we are saying is the way some of these coalitions are being set up leads to these problems. That’s why we must fix the way coalitions are set up because we are in an era in South Africa when coalitions, particularly at local government, have now become the order of the day because there is no party that is winning outright,” said Mahsatile.
Mashatile’s comments come as the mayor of Johannesburg, Thapelo Amad, is facing a motion of no confidence from ActionSA.
Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie had initially put his hand up for the job, but later said he was withdrawing.
In Nelson Mandela Bay metro the DA said its mayor, Retief Odendaal was facing a motion of no confidence after he cracked down on corruption after the suspension of several officials.
The ANC and EFF coalition in Ekurhuleni has been able to oust DA mayor Tania Campbell. The municipality is now led by a mayor from the African Independent Congress.
Mashatile said there was nothing wrong for any municipality or metro to be led by a mayor from a small party.
He said coalitions were based on discussions between parties and they agree on the name of a mayor from a small party.
Al Jama-ah is said to be providing the name of another mayor to replace Amad in Johannesburg.
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