Whether you call it a moonshot pact, a coalition or the multi-party charter of SA, the fact is that South Africa is not ready for any form of governing coalition.
The state of our political parties shows that their members expect their parties to lead government.
The power struggles between coalition members in municipalities are proof enough that our political landscape is not yet ready for a multi-party government.
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A handful of municipalities have degenerated, causing havoc in communities.
Provincial or municipal governments are like trophies, every party will want a stake, so there is a great possibility of divisions.
Running a country is different from running a political party.
Things that parties see as wrong in the ANC government and which they think are easy to fix, will prove to be more difficult than they thought.
It will take them so much time to fix that they will go back to the voters to request another term and another term (in the process blaming the ANC), until South Africans are fed-up with them.
Leading government is no child’s play.
Firstly, every political party in government sucks the government for resources to sustain themselves, so a tug of war over resources is likely.
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This will create a culture of working in silos with no co-ordinated service delivery.
Every head will want to be seen delivering. Populist tendencies will mushroom and be a detriment to government services.
Secondly, expectations from other coalition members will be high and in no time they will feel neglected and opt out.
Thirdly, finger-pointing over who is not doing the work, will be a daily thing.
Projects will only be implemented in boardrooms where coalition leaders will argue over the approach and so the project will never see the light.
Fourthly, motions and votes of no confidence will be the highlights of the coalition government, time will be spent in courts or on debates about who must step down or aside.
We can be excited about next year, but the fact is SA is just not ready for coalitions.
Bheki Mzimela
Pietermaritzburg