ANC proposes answer for dysfunctional coalitions
Governing party says collective executive system works better
The ANC is looking at the possibly of introducing the collective executive system across the 80 hung councils in the country.
The executive collective system, which is Section 12 of the Municipal Structures Act, scraps the mayoral executive system and takes powers away from a mayor and allows a new committee to run proceedings.
Currently this is in place in some municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal.
In Eastern Cape the provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs wants to scrap the mayoral system in Nelson Mandela Bay in favour of the collective executive system.
The DA-run coalition government, which has been at the helm for just over seven months in the metro, is opposing the implementation of this system.
Briefing the media on Sunday, ANC political education committee co-ordinator David Makhura, who tabled a paper on the strategic framework around coalitions, said the party’s national executive committee had made a number of observations that related to the instability around coalitions.
“Among key challenges we’re facing in the country is that we have unstable and dysfunctional coalitions impacting hugely on service delivery in municipalities,” he said.
“We’ve seen much more stability in municipalities run by the collective executive system over the mayoral system. This means parties will be represented proportionally according to the seats they got in council.
“We only have trouble where [there’s] mayoral executive system .We’re thinking of introducing an executive system in all hung councils.”
Makhura dismissed the idea that the collective executive system would be abused and only implemented where the ANC was not in a coalition government.
“It should not be political… the issue of introducing an executive collective system shouldn’t be an issue for parties only. There’s varying opinion saying the executive system is doing better.
“We’re not doing it for the ANC… even in Joburg and Ekurhuleni we want the introduction of the executive collective system,” Makhura said.