As South Africa enters its coalition governance era, with the liberation movement governing era, of one-party domination comes to an end, the Dutch model of consensus coalition government, underpinned by policy formulation through consultation with civil society, business and professionals and underpinned by a neutral and professional public service offers some lessons.
Coalition governments in the Netherlands often bring together parties from across the political ideological spectrum, from the left, the centre and the right. Dutch coalitions are normally majority-based. However, the Netherlands since January 2026 is being governed by a minority coalition. This followed months of political negotiations following the October 2025 elections.
The centrist, pro-European Union party, the Democrats 66, a social-liberal, positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum, the winner of last October’s election, joined forces with the centre-right Christian Democratic Appeal and the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), holding just 66 of 150 seats in the lower house. The government is a mix of centre left, centre right and Christian democratic. The minority coalition needs the opposition support to pass key legislation on a case-by-case basis.
Bert Koenders, former Dutch Foreign Minister, and a member of the Labour Party, gave a very insightful view of what, in post-war Netherlands and Western European governing national coalitions, have been the requisites to make national governing coalitions successful. Koenders addressed the leaders of South Africa's governing Government of National Unity (GNU) members in Cape Town recently.
Koenders served as Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017. He is currently a special envoy of the World Bank.
Coalition governments in the Netherlands can often take up to nine months to be negotiated. During the negotiations, the old government remains in place, until a new government is formed. Dutch governments are able to operate smoothly even if there is no Cabinet in place, because the Dutch public service is not bound to a governing party, but to the country’s constitution and to established convention of political neutrality.
The Dutch, under the unwritten principle of “Demissionair” or “Current Affairs”, the outgoing Cabinet remains as a caretaker Cabinet while a new government is negotiated. During the caretaker period, the civil service continues to operate as usual. The civil service cannot come up with new policies. A list of controversial or contested policies is compiled by the Dutch Parliament, which the caretaker Cabinet cannot implement.
The Dutch public service also has an unwritten convention of acting in the public interest, not on ideological, factional or governing party interests. When Dutch public servants are appointed, they sign a formal oath to act in the public interest, not in the interest of political parties. The Dutch public service is professional, merit-based and accountable to constitutional obligations, not party obligations.
Koenders argues, that generally, the larger the number of parties in a national coalition, the more difficult it is to ensure the cohesion, cooperation and stability of a governing coalition. Unlike the conventional and wrong view, in South Africa that successful coalitions can only work if parties to it share ideologies, Koenders says
successful governing coalitions can involve parties from different ideological perspectives. However, he argues, there could be a minimum ideological benchmark, which excludes certain parties, if they, for example pursue violence, are extremists or oppose a country’s constitutional consensus.
He says the Dutch Labour Party, would for example not include far-right political parties, in coalitions they preside over. The Dutch Labour party would rather go into opposition, then include the far-right in a governing coalition with it.
Successful coalitions in the Netherlands relies on coalition agreements on key governing policies, compromises and goals, between the coalition partners, which are legally binding.
Compromise in the Dutch political system is positioned as a necessity for effective governance, not as a failure or a weakness. Even majority governments pass critical laws in consultation with the country’s key stakeholders, trade union and business organisations to secure the widest society agreement.
Historically, the Dutch were divided into what they call “pillarisation”, divided along religious lines, Protestants, Catholic, organised working class (Labour) and middle classes (Liberal), with society and political parties organised along these lines. These groups also organised their own institutions, such as newspapers, universities and schools to protect their own group interests.
Over time, the Dutch fostered a consensus model of decision-making in all spheres of society. It is a consensus-based approach to decision-making through social dialogue, called the Dutch Polder model. The Polder Model has become the model of Dutch governance, in which there is a cooperation between the government, labour and business organisations. A winner-takes-all mentality is absent in the Dutch political, economic and societal systems.
In the political sphere, political parties govern cooperatively. In the Polder Model, the Dutch govern, whether as majority parties or as coalitions in cooperation with opposition parties and business, labour and civil society on major policies.
Dutch governance, institutional and societal conflicts are also characterized by cooperation between the government, trade unions, and employers’ organizations.
It is understood that the Polder Model of consensus started in the Middle Ages, when communities had to agree to the shared responsibilities in maintaining the polders, the land reclaimed from the sea, to prevent it from being flooded.
Koenders argues it is vital that national coalitions formulate a minimum governing policy plan, where the vital interests of every party are respected. He says for coalitions to be successful, it is critical, that the biggest party in the coalition compromise the most. And that the smallest parties refrain from brinkmanship behaviours. He says, once a Cabinet minister is appointed, such a minister must govern in the national interest, rather than in his or her party interest.
In the Dutch coalition agreement conventions, the biggest party generally gets the Prime Minister position, and the second biggest party, the Finance Ministry.
It is important for governing coalitions to put in place a dispute mechanism as part of the coalition agreement.
Importantly, he says that successful Dutch national governing coalitions, partner with business, civil society and professionals, and involve them in policy-making, implementation and advise. He says the 2014 Dutch governing coalition, he was part of, took 100 days to explain to the nation their joint coalition policy plan for the country.
Koenders explained how the Dutch coalition, he was part of, worked. On a Monday, the Prime Minister would meet with all the governing coalition leaders.
After the party leaders meeting, the ministers than meet to see how they are going to implement the policies and resolve differences. On Thursday evening, Ministers would meet to assess the success or bottlenecks of implementation. These regular meetings build trust between partners.
For South Africa’s, historically divided based on race, ethnicity, colour and ideology by colonialism and apartheid, a Polder Model-like of consensus-seeking through social dialogue, to tackle critical problems in all spheres of society, the economy and politics, is worth pursuing. A professional, corrupt free and competent and merit-based public service and state-owned entities, that are neutral and governed by the Constitution and not aligned to any political party or ideology or group, which manage the state and public resources in the public interest, is essential.
A winner-takes-all mentality, which has destroyed most African countries since Liberia became the first African to gain independence in 1847, must be totally banished from South Africa’s political culture. A culture of compromise between political parties, within society, between different colours, races, ideologies and ethnic groups must be institutionalised as part of South Africa’s national identity, national culture and its democracy. Cooperation between government, labour, business organisations, civil society, community organisations and professional bodies must also be institutionalised.
Instructively, Koenders argues that a democracy is strong, when Parliament, the media and civil society, can make regular judgements of the government - and the governing coalition accept these, rather than being defensive, and make the necessary changes. And that there is consensus among all political parties, social partners and stakeholders in society, that the media and civil society, should hold governing parties accountable – and that governing parties must be responsive to the criticisms of the media and civil society.
William Gumede is the Founder of the Democracy Works Foundation and author of the bestselling Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times (Tafelberg).