Deputy president Paul Mashatile has conceded that, in their current form, coalitions are not working in SA and are contributing towards a drop in service delivery.

Responding to questions from MPs in parliament on Thursday, Mashatile said a regulatory framework was needed to ensure stability. He said political parties would be held accountable to ensure agreements advanced service delivery needs of municipalities. 

“Local government is the closest one to the people and it’s important to emphasise that point. We need to minimise disruptions as much as we can at that level. 

“Regulatory framework is needed because indeed we can’t always say we blame problems of local government on coalitions, but the way these coalitions are being set up in these areas lead to the problems we’re seeing.

“We must fix the way coalitions are set up. We’re in an era where coalition governments, particularly in local government, are the order of the day because no party is winning outright. We need to get the model right to ensure they are set up in a proper way,” Mashatile said.

During the Q&A, the EFF asked if the dialogue on coalitions would include taking a look at corruption, and how, under the leadership of the ANC plagued municipalities.

Mashatile said the issue of corruption in municipalities should not be singled out on one particular party because there was often an attempt to say the ANC was corrupt, “which isn’t the case”.

Provinces such as Gauteng have seen an increase in motions of no confidence against leaders of council, leading to changes in governance.

Since the 2021 November local government elections, the cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane have had three mayors. The City of Ekurhuleni has had two mayors and the mayor of Mogale City recently survived a motion of no confidence after the courts interdicted the meeting two weeks ago.

Mashatile said the dialogue around creating a regulatory framework on coalitions would definitely look at corruption.

“When there’s corruption at a municipality, let’s deal with the officials that are corrupt. Let’s not single out political parties. Already on the ground, your party [EFF] is part of coalitions and I’m sure working with us they don’t endorse corruption. There should be no finger pointing to the ANC. We as the ANC have always been an anti-corruption party,” he said.

Mashatile said there had been challenges with existing coalition governments, adding he was not shocked that City of Johannesburg, for example, had a mayor from a small party.

“Joburg is currently stable with its mayor from a small party. Our approach on the ground must always be constructive, where we work with anyone with constructive proposals,” he said.