The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants all parties represented in Parliament to support its final two Private Member's Bills, part of the trilogy of its Coalition Bills, when they come to the House for a vote.

The party says its Coalition Bills aim to regulate coalitions in local governments, and the party wants them passed before the May election so that the country is prepared for possible provincial and national coalition governments.

The Bills were originally announced in October 2022.

DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube says once the country has a legislative framework for coalition governments, they will be held to account for any service delivery shortfalls.

The Bills hope to extend the time limit to appoint mayors and speakers, from 14 days to 30 days, to allow coalition partners more time to properly negotiate a successful coalition.

The Bills aim to insert an electoral threshold that would require parties to obtain a certain number of votes before they are able to qualify for seats in council. Also, if passed, the Bills will limit the number of motions of no confidence that can be brought against a mayor or speaker, to once in a twelve-month period – subject to certain exceptions thereafter.

Gwarube highlighted that the instability in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is owing to coalitions that are bound by “gentlemen’s agreements” and not by good governance principles that place residents at the heart of the governance agenda.

“Political instability is at the heart of this service delivery crisis and we cannot allow these doomsday coalitions and smaller parties to hold cities to ransom to receive powerful and lucrative positions,” she says.

She says unstable coalition governments led by an African National Congress/Economic Freedom Fighters (ANC/EFF) partnership have led to unprecedented water shortages, with residents going days without any water in most parts of Johannesburg and eThekwini.

In eThekwini, a long series of infrastructure maintenance and service delivery failures, coupled with an illegal South African Municipal Workers Union strike, has plunged the City into paralysis, she states.

“These systemic service delivery issues have been caused and exacerbated with the coming to power of the ANC/EFF coalitions. Unless residents of these metropolitan areas are rescued from the coalitions of corruption, we will continue to see these cities plunge into even more chaos,” Gwarube said.

DA’S FIVE-POINT INTERVENTION PLAN

The DA wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to urgently mobilise the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to make use of their logistical infrastructure and water tankers as a short-term measure for residents most affected by water losses, until the water crisis has been solved.

The party is also calling on local and provincial governments to set up and encourage public-private partnerships to collaboratively address water-shedding and leverage resources and expertise from both sectors to find sustainable solutions.

The DA also wants the South African Police Service (Saps) to establish a specialised investigating team to deal with and investigate sabotage contributing to the service delivery collapse and ensure they report back to the Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly on the progress made.

The DA will urge government to onboard and allocate funds to non-governmental organisations and non-profit organisations to provide support to the worst-affected water-shedding areas, ensuring assistance reaches those in dire need.