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Minority parties are causing instability in Johannesburg says political analyst

by Luqmaan Rawat

Johannesburg is still without a mayor Photo EWN

Johannesburg – Citizens of Johannesburg continue to suffer after the election of a new mayor was delayed despite the city’s special council meeting starting at 10am on Tuesday. The city has been without a mayor for almost two weeks and they might have to wait even longer before someone takes the captain’s seat.

On Tuesday Al Jama-ah councillor, Kabelo Gwamanda’s, mayoral candidacy appeared to be set in stone until the ruling party had other ideas and wished to field their own candidate. However, after seven hours of deliberating, the ANC and EFF block could not agree on a candidate to field for the position. For Levy Ndou, political analysts, this is a clear indication of politicians putting their needs and wants above the people’s once again. 

“It speaks to the fact that our politicians would mainly focus on positions. They’ll focus on repositioning themselves at the expense of ordinary citizens. It also talks to the general neglect of the politicians neglecting the citizens. In the sense that when all these things are happening, politicians are aware that citizens are the victims of everything that is happening in those municipalities.”

 

No cooperation means no coalition will work

There has always been talks of how good coalitions can be but it seems political parties are just not up for it. If they can’t cooperate on choosing a mayor, no coalitions will ever work out, explained Ndou. It will just be the same thing over and over again with no progress ever being made.

“This situation also speaks to the degree in which politicians understand the concept of cooperation and working together because on the basis of coalitions, politicians are put in one room to be able to work together. If that element does not ring in the minds of our politicians we are actually going to see these things happening all the time.”

When coalitions are being established one must “forget about party identities”. It is about parties coming together to, joining their powers to give citizens what they want. However, the coalitions that exist now are only about how “politicians themselves want to access political power and state resources”.

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Minority parties are causing instability in Johannesburg

Although there are two major coalitions, one led by the DA and the other by the ANC, we could see three mayoral candidates. This is because the DA’s candidate is Mpho Phalatse while ActionSA and other former coalition partners have chosen Funzi Ngobeni. 

For Ndou, minority parties should not be able to yield such power and this is killing the spirit of these coalitions as well as creating unnecessary problems. He also blames minority parties for the instability that is currently taking place for the seat of mayor, firmly believing mayoral candidates should not come from minority parties.

“it is unfortunate that in the eyes of the minority, they will insist that they shall be treated as equal partners with other parties that have got bigger numbers. When you have only got one seat and you are elected as a mayor, you need to please the opposition. You need to be accountable to the coalition partner, accountable to your own party and at the same time you must satisfy all the citizens.”

Furthermore, having one seat on the council makes it extremely likely that you can be removed at a moment’s notice. Which is another reason for the instability and poor governance we are seeing in Johannesburg, said Ndou.

The city has seen nine elected mayors not completing a full term since Parks Tau in 2016 and for Ndou, should it come down to a coin toss, the next candidate might be kicked out of office faster than Thapelo Ahmad was.

 

To hear more from Levy Ndou on the political situation in Johannesburg, listen to the podcast here:

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