The Government of National Unity (GNU) entered into between the ANC and the DA in the national government and two provinces are likely to be extended to the local government sphere.
This was a hint that came from separate interviews DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille and ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula gave after the signing of the statement of intent on the GNU.
The DA and ANC were the first to sign the agreement on Friday while the first sitting of the National Assembly was under way.
The signing paved the way for the two parties to vote together with other small parties for the election of the ANC’s Thoko Didiza as the National Assembly Speaker, DA’s Annelie Lotriet as Deputy Speaker and President Cyril Ramaphosa as the country’s president.
The arrangement was translated to the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng legislatures, where the parties shared the office-bearer positions.
In terms of the agreement, parties will co-operate with each other in respect of executive and or legislative activities.
“The GNU shall be constituted in a manner that reflects genuine inclusiveness of political parties that are party to this statement of intent and are represented in the National Assembly broadly taking into account the number of seats parties have in the National Assembly and the need to advance the national interest,” reads the document, adding that Ramaphosa has the prerogative to appoint the cabinet in consultation with the leaders of participating parties.
Although the statement of intent is not explicit about what would happen at hung municipalities, it makes reference to “stabilising local government, effective governance, and the assignment of appropriate responsibilities to different spheres of government”.
Addressing the media at the weekend, Mbalula said they did not enter into a grand coalition, but a GNU.
“We negotiated and engaged. We will do that in municipalities around the country so that we bring stability in our approach,” he said when asked if the GNU will filter to local government.
Mbalula’s comments came days after Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza axed Gauteng EFF chairperson Nkululeko Dunga as member of the mayoral committee for finance.
This was interpreted as a fall-out between the EFF and ANC in metros where they co-govern.
EFF leader Julius Malema has since demanded that Dunga be re-appointed or else they would recall their members of mayoral committees in Johannesburg, Mogale City, Nelson Mandela Bay and Ekurhuleni.
“All of them are going to step down. We’re not scared of a fight. They want to bring it on, we’re ready for it and we’re not desperate for positions,” he warned.
Speaking to Radio 702 on Monday, Zille said the government of national unity at municipalities was a “possibility”.
“We did mention that we might definitely see how this goes and if there is good faith all round, we would see if we could replicate something like this to local government to bring stability and enable basic service delivery happening,” she said.
UKZN professor and co-editor of the book Coalition Building and Municipal Governance in South Africa, Purshottama Reddy, recently told the “Cape Times” that the challenge South Africa has had in coalitions on a local government level were that people went for political power and political positions “and the last thing on their mind was service delivery and trying to address the needs of the community”.
“We need to move away from aspiring for political positions. It’s a question of wait and see what happens.
The citizenry wants the government to come in and start providing services.
People are tired now of poor service delivery, that’s the main thing they have to focus on. All the legislation is there. So they want parties that are going to come in to be relatively stable, to have a program of action which they are going to implement.”
Cape Times