News24.com | Christi van der Westhuizen | DA's 'moonshot coalition' ambition may land it in a crater for one

The response from opposition parties to the DA's 'monshot coalition' has been similar to past accusations of DA arrogance, writes Christi van der Westhuizen.

The Democratic Alliance, South Africa's largest opposition party, held its three-yearly Federal Congress last weekend, attended by 2000 delegates – the most yet. The formation of ruling coalitions after next year's national and provincial elections topped the programme. But re-elected party leader John Steenhuisen's proposal of a "moonshot pact", his forced metaphor of a coalition to wrest control from the ruling ANC, points to a party out of step with potential allies.

DA delegates, of which 45% consisted of branch members and other delegated members, voted for constitutional amendments and resolutions that should help to stabilise the party's participation in ruling coalitions. This has become essential in a political landscape, shifting decisively towards coalition governments. 

ANC support dropped below 50% in the 2021 local government elections. Surveys point to the same happening in next year's elections at national level and in provinces such as Gauteng, where the party had dropped to 50.19% in the 2019 elections.

Fragmented party support 

As voters become disillusioned and turn away from the former liberation movement, party support has fragmented. This is reflective of the system of proportional representation, adopted to ensure the inclusion of smaller parties to ameliorate conflict in a democracy emerging from a deeply divided past.

The negative aspect is that this inclusive approach has contributed to the instability of coalition governments. The DA's federal congress took place against the background of a DA-led coalition of parties losing control of the Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality east of Johannesburg. 

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The ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the third largest opposition party, embarked on a campaign to oust the ruling DA coalitions in the three metros in Gauteng province, the country's economic heartland. An ANC-EFF coalition, including smaller parties, unseated the DA-led coalition in Johannesburg metro. A party with three seats, Al Jama-ah, received the mayorship in return for their support.

In Ekurhuleni, an ANC-EFF coalition succeeded with the help of seven smaller parties. Handing the mayorship to the African Independent Congress, again a party with three seats, clinched the deal. 

To claim the Tshwane metro, the seat of the country's capital, involved the alleged bribing of seven councillors of the DA-led coalition in the vote for a new mayor. The ANC-EFF coalition offered the mayorship to the Congress of the People (Cope), with its mere 0.2% representation. The Cope mayorship of Murunwa Makwarela did not last, however, as it was discovered that he was an unrehabilitated insolvent, disqualifying him from the position.

Disarray 

Smaller councils in the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal have been in similar disarray. Local government in South Africa can ill afford the destabilisation of governance, even more so if caused by political opportunism and bribery. Years of poor maintenance, corruption and the appointment of incompetent officials on the basis of political connections have brought municipal infrastructure to the brink of collapse.

Constitutional amendments adopted at the DA congress include a strengthening of disciplinary processes, which may help to counter opportunistic behaviour by elected DA members. Last year, three DA councillors appeared in court for accepting bribes that plunged the Nelson Mandela Bay metro into chaos. The constitutional amendments include that members may not be part of caucus meetings when they are subject to disciplinary steps. 

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The Federal Law Commission, the party body responsible for disciplining members, has been controversial due to accusations by now departed members Phumzille van Damme and Mbali Ntuli that it had been weaponised as part of factional infighting.

Amendments adopted at congress should assist in addressing these problems. These include that half of the commission's members should have legal training and one-sixth of training in mediation processes. The commission was also empowered to make decisions rather than simply making recommendations. 

Meetings will also take place more regularly to ensure speedier resolution of matters. These revisions should sharpen the party's ability to take steps against councillors undermining coalitions. 

But other DA proposals on coalition formation concern the electoral system and rules of representative bodies and may prove more controversial. In Steenhuisen's opening address at the congress, he stressed proposals included in private member's bills that impinge on proportional representation and democratic procedures.

Electoral threshold proposal 

For example, the DA proposes an electoral threshold to determine whether a party qualifies for representation in a council or legislature. Drawing on international examples, the proposal is of a threshold of a minimum of one or two percent, rather than the current situation in which a party with as little as 0.2% of the vote can receive a seat. 

Another proposal is to limit the number of votes of no confidence brought in a particular period. Repeated votes of no confidence have been used to wrest control from ruling coalitions.

The DA also wants to see a formalisation of coalition agreements with binding principles and procedures for conflict resolution. Steenhuisen's mooting of a so-called Moonshot Pact seems to be an attempt to establish the groundwork for such a formalised agreement.

It is an invitation to "like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and civic movements to defeat the ANC, to keep the EFF out, and to inaugurate a new national opposition coalition government".

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It involves agreement on the rules of engagement while entities retain their own identities. But it is also ambitious, a seeming attempt by the DA to breathe new life into South African politics while avoiding "an impotent, unstable minority coalition". Steenhuisen punted a "whole-of-society approach that builds a new ecosystem of change".

The response from opposition parties has been similar to past accusations of DA arrogance. The United Democratic Movement and ActionSA reminded the DA of already existing processes to form a bloc of opposition parties and involving civil society organisations in formulating political solutions.

Steenhuisen’s "moonshot" projection of the DA as the "big brother" leader of a coalition may be a long shot that scuppers the very possibility for such a coalition.

- Christi Van der Westhuizen is an associate professor at the Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy, Nelson Mandela University.

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