Former president Thabo Mbeki cast his ballot at Killarney Country Club on November 4

Arriving at the calm station with his security, Mbeki was embraced by some comrades who were happy to see him and accompany him to make his mark.

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Coalition challenges

Speaking to the media about local government, the former president said: “That’s too long of a story to tell, but things have gone wrong. It was also evident in the population’s previous votes. That’s why you’ll find a lot of fragmentation in terms of the voting results and the many emerging political parties.”

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Mbeki added that as a result of how things turned out, hung councils and local municipalities would emerge over uncertainty regarding the direction municipalities should take, noting that where things went wrong had to be confronted and answered.

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Lawyer and politician Dali Mpofu stressed the importance of understanding what local government elections are about.

“Local government elections shouldn’t be about politicking, but rather about service delivery issues, and I think if all political parties had that mindset, it would be easy to talk where there were hung councils and discuss coalitions.”

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