Cogta and Salga are pushing for an amendment Bill that seeks to remove the undue influence of smaller parties on the appointment of political office bearers in municipalities to be approved as law by next year’s elections.
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) are pushing for an amendment Bill that seeks to remove the undue influence of smaller parties on the appointment of political office bearers in municipalities to be approved as law by next year’s elections.
The proposals are contained in the Local Government Municipal Structures Second Amendment Bill introduced to parliament’s portfolio committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs earlier this year by Democratic Alliance MP George Michalakis.
The Bill seeks to stabilise local government by ensuring that parties which make the composition of municipal councils are a true representation of the will of the majority,
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Deputy Minister Namane Masemola told the Mail & Guardian.
“There are parties who have a single seat, but would demand critical seats during coalition negotiations such as being a mayor. This undermines the democratic will of the majority. As part of the stabilisation, this legislation proposes a 1% elections threshold for all parties represented in the municipal council,” Masemola said.
He said smaller parties often use the slim power they have to bargain for kingmaker status, making it difficult to have a stable local government and undermining the delivery of services in municipalities.
“Although it’s now the process of parliament, we hope the bill would have been signed into law by the 2026 elections. Because as it stands, it creates serious instability in municipalities especially in those where there’s no outright winner. Communities find themselves caught up in between,” he added.
The proposed legislation is long overdue, said Lance Joel, the chief executive of Salga whose brainchild it is.
“According to studies which have been conducted, it shows that smaller parties are the biggest winners in coalition governments,” Joel said, adding that at the heart of the Bill is to have a framework which will make it easy to manage coalitions.
“In an event where there’s no outright winner, political parties who have sufficient seats will be represented in the municipal council. Mayors or council speakers will only be removed after serving two terms. The bill seeks to create stable municipalities which in turn will improve service delivery.”
About 70 of the 257 municipalities in South Africa are governed through coalitions including key metros such as Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini and Ekurhuleni whose work has been hobbled by political skirmishes in councils.
The Local Government Municipal Structures Second Amendment Bill seeks to extend the time period within which a local council must appoint its representatives to the district council, to extend the time period within which the first meeting of the council must be called after it has been declared elected.
“Provide for an electoral threshold when determining the allocation of proportional seats in a metropolitan, local and district council. To provide for an electoral threshold in determining the allocation of seats to representatives of local councils to district councils and to provide for matters connected therewith,” it states.
The Bill also concedes that coalitions will be the new norm for the South Africa’s political landscape with the once governing ANC having dipped below 50%.
“The current issue with coalition governments at local government level is that a high number of political parties are needed to join together in order to gain a majority in the council. What this means is that coalition governments are sometimes made up of up to 10 or more political parties, the majority of these parties having obtained only one seat each in the council,” the Bill notes.