EDITORIAL | Welcome to power, small parties. SA’s fate is now in your hands

The danger of this new political landscape is that minority interests will play too big a role in the forging of coalitions

04 November 2021 - 20:18

The people have spoken in the local government elections, but it’s not at all clear what they’ve just said. The upshot of this is that we will have more hung councils this time round than in 2016, as many as 52, and that in many municipalities no one party has captured the loyalty or allegiance of voters in large enough numbers to serve as an acting majority. Potentially, it is a moment of great danger for SA, especially if one accords with the view that a widespread and growing disillusionment with politics could in the future give rise to populist “saviours’’, who reawaken these sleeper-voters. On the other hand, it is a moment of great potential...

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