ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula with Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota and DA leader John Steenhuisen during the National Dialogue summit on coalitions at the University of the Western Cape. Picture Leon Lestrade/ African News Agency (ANA)
The ANC and other political parties have proposed a number of changes in the law to prevent the collapse of coalition governments.
Political parties also suggested a limit to the number of motions of no confidence to avoid it being abused for political reasons.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said they want the party with the most votes to lead a coalition government.
The DA said there must be a law that will stop parties from abusing motions of no confidence.
DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said they want to avoid the abuse of motions of no confidence to come to an end. The law should allow for a motion of no confidence only once a year, except when there were exceptional circumstances, like a finding against the president, premier or mayor.
The UDM, IFP and NFP also said they would want to see stability in municipalities and said corruption was what creates unstable coalition governments.
They said parties who get into coalition do so for the wrong reasons, and not for the right reasons of serving the people.
But Mbalula reiterated the ANC’s position that they want a party with most of the votes to form a coalition government.
This was also the position taken by the National Working Committee of the ANC.
Mbalula said it was their view that the formation of a coalition government must reflect the will of the people.
“The party that has won the largest votes should lead the coalition in that municipality, and executive positions should be allocated in proportion to the votes obtained by coalition partners. Coalition governments should reflect the will of the people, not any deal-making among parties,” said Mbalula.
“The law should be amended so that public administration is insulated from coalition deal-making and bargaining and that motions of no confidence are not abused,” he said.
Mbalula said a law must be put in place to regulate coalition governments.
Gwarube said it was the public that suffered in unstable coalition governments.
They wanted to introduce pieces of legislation that would create stability in coalitions and prevent the abuse of motions of no confidence.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the main problem is corruption in government.
He said public representatives and political parties give directives to senior officials in government where to direct public resources.
This system must not be allowed where politicians will interfere in the use of public funds.
“I have read some academic submissions and other material in preparation for this dialogue and one thing that is still an Achilles Heel to the entire process is public representatives and political parties’ direct access to government resources.
“In other words, the hijacking by public representatives and political parties of accounting officers’ powers remains a challenging set-up. These corrupt political directives are laced in many instances with corruption and must be done away with. Individuals and parties caught with their hands in the cookie jar must be expelled,” said Holomisa.
NFP member Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam said one of the reasons for parties to get into coalition was corruption.
Once parties disagree on the use of public resources, the coalition government collapses.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics