South Africans should start embracing the era of coalition governments because there was little hope that individual political parties would dethrone the African National Congress (ANC) on their own, a political analyst said.
“This is an era that South African cannot do much about it except to embrace it going forward, maybe for the next ten years,” University of South Africa’s Professor Lesiba Teffo said.
Teffo said it was important for parties that were in talks for such arrangements to note that coalitions were not equal partnerships. It was rather a marriage which required parties to compromise.
The ANC should get used to the new reality of coalition governments because it was fast losing support, Teffo added.
Teffo and the University of Johannesburg’s Professor Tinyiko Maluleke said although coalition governments were complex and difficult to manage, the ANC, Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) had no choice but to co-govern some of the metros and key municipalities.
“Coalition governments are probably the only way forward in several key municipalities and metros where no one got hundred per cent,” said Maluleke.
He said this year’s elections also presented growth for the DA as it consolidated the areas it had previously captured.
“It seems to be penetrating more black votes in a significant manner than before and it also tells us that the EFF has arrived on the local scene with a bang,” Maluleke said.
Maluleke said the ANC had only one option — to fix its own systematic problems which had the potential to cause more harm, or face eventual extinction from the political scene.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
