Africa-Press – South-Africa. Randall Williams writes that the coalition government in Tshwane needs to learn from lessons in Johannesburg and not allow the City of Tshwane to fall.
In recent weeks there has been a great deal of attention and scrutiny on the stability of coalition governments in Gauteng. With the City of Johannesburg coalition government collapsing, there are now attempts to destabilise and undo the progress made towards improving service delivery to Tshwane residents.
The multiparty coalition government in the City of Tshwane is stable and focused on improving service delivery for all. Currently, the coalition consists of six parties, namely the Democratic Alliance (DA), ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, African Christian Democratic Party, Inkatha Freedom Party and Congress of the People (COPE). Together we have a majority coalition government, which gives us the advantage of being able to vote as a solid block in Council.
From the outset, as part of the coalition agreement, the DA vacated the Speaker’s seat in Council to make way for COPE, which currently occupies the position with Cllr Murunwa Makwarela at the helm. With COPE taking the Speaker of Council position, this solidified our commitment to genuine power-sharing, and this also reinforces our principle that we are all equal coalition partners in the City of Tshwane.
Committed
At a local level, as coalition partners, we work well together with mutual respect. We make sure that we regularly consult and engage one another on important governance issues. I would like to believe that all the parties are truly committed to making this coalition government work. In my role as the Executive Mayor, I have good working relations with all MMCs, including the DA (of course), ActionSA and Freedom Front Plus.
However, there are instances and issues over which we disagree. This is perfectly normal in any environment where there are competing interests. Where we disagree, we have multiple mechanisms that can be deployed to resolve our disagreements so that we continue to take our city forward. Unfortunately, there are occasions where we disagree, and this plays out publicly in the media. This is disappointing as it creates the perception of instability. Nonetheless, we always work to regroup and resolve our differences for the sake of our residents, who entrusted us with the important responsibility of forming a coalition government to advance service delivery.
I believe it is important that as coalition partners, we manage our differences and disputes responsibly without threatening the coalition’s stability.
We all need to learn from developments in the City of Johannesburg and not allow the City of Tshwane to fall. If we fail to keep this coalition, then we will have failed our voters, who have given us a great opportunity to work together to take Tshwane forward.
All indications point to coalition governments becoming a more permanent feature of South African politics, therefore, we must use this opportunity at local government level to demonstrate political maturity and further earn the trust of our residents, especially as we head to the 2024 national elections.
No room for failure
We no longer have room to fail as coalition governments. Egos must be put aside, and we need to focus on the bigger picture. The reality is that the infighting between coalition partners only serves to benefit the very same corrupt ANC that we promised to take out of government. We must do better as coalition partners and learn from our mistakes.
It is almost one year since the election, and we have all been working to improve services in Tshwane. One of our biggest challenges has been the City’s financial stability, and unfortunately our liquidity problems will be with us for a while.
We are, however, starting to see improvements in our revenue-collection levels, for example in June 2022, we collected R3,039 billion. This increased in July 2022 to R3,179 billion, which further increased in August 2022 to R3,357 billion. Now in September 2022, we collected R3,532 billion, which is one the highest collection rates we have seen in the City. This is an indication that we are starting to turn things around in Tshwane.
Undoubtedly one of our biggest successes as a coalition has been ensuring the appointment of a City Manager. A process which can be very difficult. Nonetheless, in Council we have been able to work together to approve the appointment of the new City Manager, Johann Mettler. Previously, we were also able to elect competent chairpersons of Section 79 committees successfully and we also pushed to approve the 2022/23 budget. There is certainly a lot more we can achieve working together.
A stable coalition is key to effectively governing the City of Tshwane, and so it is now more important than ever that we stay united as coalition partners and not allow parties that were rejected by voters in 2021 to make a backdoor comeback.
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