'It's a pity we don't have 30 days to get coalitions going': local govt expert
Political parties must now negotiate coalition governments without the new law intended to make the process easier.
Sara-Jayne Makwala King
South Africa's political rivals will have to put their differences aside and find common ground. (Picture credit: dmitrydemidovich/123rf)
dmitrydemidovich/123rf
The results are in, audited and declared.
South Africa is facing a record number of hung councils after the 4 November local government elections.
138 municipalities require coalition negotiations, up from 66 in 2001.
But political parties are entering the negotiations without a legal framework to guide them.
The Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, also known as the Coalitions Bill, was supposed to be passed before the elections.
Speaking to Lester Kiewit on CapeTalk, local government expert Professor Jaap de Visser said it was disappointing that the bill had not been finalised.
"It's a pity that the bill hasn't been passed."
The proposed legislation would have given political parties 30 days instead of 14 to negotiate coalition agreements.
"I think that's a real pity that we don't have 30 days to get these coalitions going because it's really, really complicated," said De Visser.
He believes the extra time would really have made a difference, especially with so many municipalities needing coalition governments.
"All of those 138 are different electoral outcomes, different personalities, different political parties with different positions. So it's going to be complex to negotiate those coalitions."
The bill also suggested making coalition agreements public and introducing open voting for mayors and speakers.
De Visser said these changes could have helped improve transparency.
"The fact that coalition agreements ought to be public, I think that was a good proposal... also the proposal in the bill that the voting for mayor, for speaker, should be done in public, that also didn't go through yet. So, that means it's again going to be a secret ballot. And I think those three things are a pity."
But he warned that legislation alone would not solve all of the challenges of coalition politics.
"There was no silver bullet in this bill that was going to make coalition building and coalition management suddenly easy."
So with the current deadline still in place, political parties now face two weeks of intense negotiations.
"What happens now is there'll be frantic conversations between political parties," explained De Visser.
"They will be on the phones 24-7, and they'll probably battle to keep up with the different complexities in all the different municipalities. And within two weeks, there must at least be a first election of a speaker."
De Visser warned that failure to elect a council speaker could eventually result in the position being decided by drawing lots.
"Then it's going to be election of a speaker by ballot. So the pressure is real, because you may end up with an office bearer elected by the throw of a dice, and that, of course, can never be sustainable."