An analysis of emerging governing coalitions at the local level in South Africa with a specific focus on Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay
| dc.contributor.advisor | Gouws, C. M. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Knowles, Kelvin David | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-06-29T08:01:16Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-06-29T08:01:16Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-11 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The 2016 South African local government election was a defining moment, which changed the political and governance landscape of the country significantly. The results of this election saw the electoral dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) in major metropolitan municipalities diminishing and losing power through the formation of coalitions. Local government in South Africa is the third tier of government and is regarded as being closest to the people. Therefore, an inherent link exists between democracy and tangible governance affecting the lives of citizens. Moreover, the principal duty of local government is to deliver and ensure access to essential public services. This developmental role of local government is also accentuated in the White Paper on Local Government where the local government system is committed to working with communities to meet these communities’ socio-economic needs in a sustainable manner. With this in mind, were the social and economic needs of the communities of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay met by the governing coalitions, which emerged, post the 2016 local government elections in these two metros? The coalitions, which emerged after the 2016 local government election in key metropolitan municipalities, necessitated an exploration into these fledgling coalitions and although coalition governments are not entrenched at the local level or are part of the South African political culture, the country has experienced some type of coalition at all levels since 1994. Accordingly, this study provides an analysis of the emerging governing coalitions as they relate to the minority governments of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela at the local level. Clarifying the link between coalitions and minority government, the premise is that minority governments are formed when a singular political party fails to reach the required majority to govern. Page | vi Explaining this further, De Vos (2016) writes the following: A party who has obtained the largest number of seats on a municipal council (but not an outright majority) does not have an automatic legal right to form the municipal government. Any group of parties who can cobble together a coalition of 50% plus 1 can form a coalition government, regardless of whether the largest party in the coalition is the largest party in the council. Of course, the closer to 50% of the seats a party obtains in a municipal council; the easier it will be for that party to cobble together a coalition. The research objectives probe the factors enabling or preventing coalition formation and the features of these emerging governing coalitions. Another objective was to explore how these coalition governments affected the communities of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay. This qualitative study used triangulation to provide a cohesive analysis of the data, which was comprised of semi-structured interviews, relevant documents, and other secondary sources. This study’s overview and conclusions attempted to explicate and establish coalition governance at the local level in South Africa. The 2016 local government elections brought a change in the balance of power and a reversal from the electoral dominance of the African National Congress (ANC). This facilitated a re-alignment of power by opposition parties to form emerging coalitions at the local level to affect governance. This study concluded that ideological and policy parity did not guarantee the survival of these emerging coalitions and that governance was adversely affected by their volatility. The lack of practical strategies which could have been applied more vigorously also negatively affected the efficacy of these coalitions. Thus, this study makes an original contribution to the interdisciplinary science of Governance and Political Transformation. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/11714 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Thesis (Ph.D. (Governance and Political Transformation))--University of the Free State, 2021 | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | South Africa - Government -- Election -- 2016 | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | African National Congress (ANC) -- Government -- Election -- 2016 | en_ZA |
| dc.title | An analysis of emerging governing coalitions at the local level in South Africa with a specific focus on Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |