In 2021, the former executive mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, Mzwandile Masina, released a book whose significance many are only now beginning to appreciate as they watch the implosion of coalition-led governments across the country.

Titled Future Realities of Coalitions in South Africa, the book reflects on coalition governments in metropolitan municipalities between 2016 and 2021, a period during which he served as the executive mayor in what to date remains the most stable coalition government since the 2016 local government elections that rewrote the party-political posture of governance in the metros when the ANC was dislodged in half of the eight category 1 municipalities...