The Democratic Alliance (DA) today announces a five-point plan to fix the chaos in the country’s big cities caused by shaky coalitions.
The mess in these cities comes from agreements among politicians, not from putting residents first in how things are run.
In the past two weeks, we’ve seen how shaky coalitions with ANC/EFF have led to water shortages, leaving folks in Johannesburg and eThekwini without water for days. In eThekwini, bad maintenance and a strike have paralyzed the city.
These problems started or got worse with ANC/EFF in charge. If we don’t rescue folks from corrupt coalitions, things will only get worse.
That’s why we’re glad to say that the last two bills of our coalition plan, first talked about in October 2022, are now in Parliament to sort out coalitions in local governments. These bills aim to:
- Give more time for coalition talks before appointing mayors and speakers.
- Set a minimum vote needed for a party to get seats in the council.
- Limit how many times a mayor or speaker can face a no-confidence vote each year.
Today, the DA wants to introduce a plan to fix the water and service problems in Gauteng and KZN:
- Pass the last two Coalition Bills to fix shaky coalitions.
- Ask the President to get the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to help with water until the crisis is over.
- Get public and private groups to work together on water issues.
- Have a special police team to deal with sabotage and report progress to Parliament.
- Get government help for NGOs and NPOs to help areas hit hardest by water problems.
The root of this problem is political instability. We can’t let small parties and shaky coalitions mess up our cities.
We ask all parties in Parliament to support these bills. Once we have rules for coalitions, we can make sure they deliver services. These bills need to pass before the May election to be ready for possible coalition governments.
The DA has a plan to keep bad parties from calling the shots in big cities.
By Siviwe Gwarube
