THIS weekend is crunch time for the country ‒ and for the major political parties because, with the exception of Cape Town and Mangaung, no one has enough support from Monday to form a municipal government off their own bat.
The fact that our political landscape has changed so dramatically with the myriad permutations of coalitions that could emerge are factors that fascinate political pundits. For the rest of us, who actually live in the wards and bear the brunt of water and electricity disruptions, potholes and underfunded emergency services, it’s a potential nightmare.
Some cities do not have enough fire engines, while their CBDs are cesspits. The infrastructure they do have is old and in dire need of maintenance, while there is simultaneously a huge need for new infrastructure in areas which are severely under-serviced.
None of this can happen without stable municipal governments with a commitment to serving the people of our cities. Coalitions are the only solution, but with who? Five years ago, a coalition of wholly unlikely bedfellows was stitched together in a desperate grasp for the Johannesburg mayoral chain.
We all know how that ended.
This time several other cities are faced with the same situation, but it needn’t be that way at all. This has to be the inflection point in South Africa’s local government history. We need parties who can and want to work together in a coalition that serves us ‒ not their narrow political or personal agendas.
If this week has taught any of us anything, especially the level of popular disenchantment with politicians and their parties, it is that the entire future of the so-called democratic project rests on parties actually starting to serve the interests of the people.
If they don’t, they might not get another chance. But maybe neither will we.
The Independent on Saturday