A year of coalitions: here's how it has gone so far

The 2021 local government elections brought coalitions to several municipalities, including metros in Gauteng, with votes of no confidence and reinstatements commonplace.

From Johannesburg to Nelson Mandela Bay, fragile coalitions ran the show with bickering and infighting affecting service delivery in some areas and raising questions about the future of local government in others.

Here are some of the moves this year as South Africa learnt to live with coalitions.

NELSON MANDELA BAY

In July, seven opposition parties — the DA, ACDP, African Independent Congress, Abantu Integrity Movement, FF Plus, PAC and UDM — agreed to form a coalition in the metro and remove the ANC’s Eugene Johnson.

“This multiparty coalition seeks to restore stability, root out corruption and improve service delivery,” they said at the time.

The coalition unseated the mayor and elected the DA’s Retief Odendaal.

JOHANNESBURG

The Johannesburg mayor's chair was a revolving one after the DA's Mpho Phalatse was removed in a vote of no confidence in September.

The election of Cope councillor Colleen Makhubela as speaker set in motion a chain of events that saw the Patriotic Alliance ditch the DA-led coalition.

 TimesLIVE reported the decision to jump ship came after the DA refused calls from coalition partners to give the speaker position to the IFP.

It is understood the PA agreed to the ANC’s offer of two MMC positions in exchange for its support.

The ANC’s Dada Morero was elected mayor but governed briefly.

Phalatse's removal was challenged in court with the South Gauteng High Court declaring in October that her ousting was invalid and unlawful.

Another vote of no confidence against Phalatse was withdrawn in late November.

This after councillor Margaret Arnolds of the African Independent Congress said she no longer supported the motion.

Ekurhuleni

The DA's Tania Campbell also had a rollercoaster ride after she was removed and re-elected within days.

At least 100 councillors voted for the ANC-sponsored motion, while 93 voted against, with the EFF abstaining. The EFF was said to have asked the ANC to allow it to govern the metro in exchange for its support in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

But it all fell apart at the negotiations table.

The ANC fielded its own mayoral candidate, Jongizizwe Dlabathi. The EFF also fielded a candidate, Nkululeko Dunga, who later withdrew.

Failed negotiations between the ANC and EFF resulted in the red berets voting with the DA to reinstate Campbell.

Campbell received 124 out of 224 votes.

Tshwane and beyond: The failed ANC project

The ANC planned to take over the Tshwane mayorship amid the removal of Phalatse and Campbell declaring it would put Gauteng metros back under their control.

“We will have Christmas in three metros,” an insider told the Sunday Times.

ANC Gauteng provincial executive committee member Lebogang Maile said the party was talking to everyone to take back power “from the arrogant DA”.

“We are engaging because we are interested in municipalities in our province being run better.

“We understand we have not won elections with a clear majority and therefore we are not arrogant.

“We have led a stable and peaceful coalition for a full five-year term [2016-2021] in Ekurhuleni, unlike the DA. Look at Johannesburg; it collapsed because of DA arrogance. The ANC has never been arrogant; we are humble and treat everyone with respect because we do not have an outright majority.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.