Local political coalitions on public service delivery: the case of eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality – South Africa.

Abstract

The 2016 and 2021 local government elections were a turning point in the South African political landscape, ushering in an era of coalition politics/governance on the local sphere. The dominance of the African National Congress was shaken to the core with the loss of metropolitan strongholds such as Johannesburg and eThekwini. Consequently, competing political parties grappled for power. Power-holders accustomed to governing alone had to compete with the new power-seekers on the political landscape. This then set in motion a series of events seeming to influence local service delivery. The issue of political coalitions emerged. The study is guided by the theories of office and policy seeking. The objectives of this study were to determine underlying intentions of political coalition formation, discover perceptions about any nexus between coalition governance and local service delivery, while exploring whether political coalitions influence public service delivery. The qualitative research approach was underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm and guided by phenomenology strategy. Using purposive sampling, the seven (7) study participants comprised of political and administrative leadership in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. The study applied thematic analysis which produced patterns from which themes emerged. Core findings revealed that political parties in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality context, in the absence of a majority, coalesce to retain or gain power. Once obtained, party interests will be furthered during council decision making, at the expense of the electorate. Smaller parties demonstrate ‘kingmaker’ attributes and may succumb to ‘selling’ their support to the highest bidder, regardless of ideological disparities. Rather than coalition formation, coalition management and governance problematise service delivery given individuals within the coalitions and the lack of political will. Recommendations include formulation of guiding principles in coalition formation, mandatory capacitating programmes for municipal councils in managing coalitions; and enhancement of political will by holding decision makers accountable as many issues linked to service delivery stem from the lack of political will in ‘getting things done’.