Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa’s two biggest political parties, the ANC and DA, agree that electoral thresholds should be factored into the creation of coalition governments, but smaller opposition parties argue this excludes them from democracy.
There are also disagreements between parties regarding proportional representation in executive councils where no party has a majority.
On Friday, conflicting views between majority and opposition parties emerged during the national dialogue on coalition governments held at the University of the Western Cape.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula is in support of thresholds where parties with less than 1% of support would not be granted a seat.
“A threshold should be introduced so that there is a degree of legitimacy with regard to what amount of electoral support qualifies a party or candidate to be part of councils and coalition governments,” he told the gathering.
He also said the law should be amended to ensure that public administration is insulated from coalition deal-making and bargaining.
Mbalula also proposed that motions of no confidence should not be abused.
“Coalitions should be transparent and accountable to the people in their jurisdiction by giving quarterly reports and accounting to citizens on service delivery progress and milestones. There should be an independent dispute resolution mechanism established to deal with any disputes among coalition partners,” he said.
He also said the health of a democracy should be measured by the wellbeing of citizens as well as the stability and ability of democratic institutions.
DA parliamentary chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said an electoral threshold removed parties who did not enjoy the confidence of the voters.
“Currently, there are parties who have seats but have less votes than the seat quota. All political parties represented in Parliament need to work together. Law making is tough and will require robust debate. Unstable coalitions will cause chaos and lack of service delivery. Governance is a cornerstone of a functioning democracy. The DA remains committed to tabling workable solutions to stabilise our governments,” she said.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the proportional system favours coalition governments.
“As we mature, multiparty governments are becoming a norm. We are going through a change, and this includes the electorate and the politicians. We agree with putting people first and committing to growing an inclusive economy,” he said.
Groenewald disagreed that the biggest party should lead coalitions and said that executive positions should be allocated proportionally.
He also warned that electoral reform can be abused by a governing party and disagreed that there should be an electoral threshold as proposed by the DA.
ACDP MP Wayne Thring said some legislative amendments may be necessary because coalitions at local government are unstable.
The ACDP was also against the minimum threshold for seat allocation.
ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula told the gathering the views of the big political parties were frustrating.
Zungula said parties like the ANC and the DA wanted to sideline smaller parties.
“The blame for instability in coalitions in local government cannot be put on smaller parties,” he said, claiming that big parties are the ones that bribe councillors.
According to Zungula, the dialogue is a primer for a grand coalition between the ANC and the DA.
He questioned why there should be discussions before the elections and rejected the suggestion of electoral thresholds and a limit to motions of no confidence.
GOOD Party leader Patricia de Lille said: “They expect their choices to be presented by those they elected. Voters must be given an abundance of choice, any dialogue that seeks to change that undermines our democracy.”
De Lille said some of the proposals do not “open” the country’s democracy.
“When you introduce thresholds, you create wasted votes.”
Furthermore, De Lille said the smaller opposition parties would not allow big parties to bully them into accepting thresholds.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa was also not in favour of the thresholds, as this excluded small parties.
The coalition dialogue was set to continue on Saturday.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
