Coalitions in South Africa's major metros are reaching unprecedented new levels of instability simultaneously, with ongoing disputes in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and KwaZulu-Natal. The major losers are the South African people.
Below, we look at the factors enabling the coalition mess in South Africa's major metros to play out.
1. There are no laws governing South African coalition agreements at present
This is arguably the biggest problem affecting the entire coalition ecosystem in South Africa, and remedying it would address many of the points below. Bodies ranging from the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to the DA have proposed amendments to the legislative framework to try to bring some stability to governance agreements.
Among the changes proposed by the DA: that coalition agreements must be formal, legally binding accords; that there should be more time available to parties to negotiate coalitions after election results are announced; and that there should be a limit to the frequency with which motions of no confidence can be brought in the legislature.
Even such measures will not be a silver bullet -- since, as Wits law professor Marius Pieterse wrote in 2020: "One cannot legislate against political pettiness." It is generally accepted that the...