It is one year to the day since the 2016 municipal elections were held and local coalitions ensured that the ANC lost three metros, says Dr. Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus.
Dr. Groenewald says that coalitions require better and more responsible leadership from political leaders because coalitions create a give-and-take situation.
“The biggest advantage of a coalition is that the various parties strive to determine what is in the best interest of the voters and not what is in the best interest of the political party. This certainly benefits the voters.
“Obviously, there are also numerous challenges to forming coalitions. South Africa is still in the early days of its democracy and coalition formation is a result of the proportional voting system where different communities can vote for a city council or some other kind of legislative body.
“The values of different political parties come together in a coalition and in this way, the supporters of every party involved get to have a say in how their city council is managed.
“An example of how this benefits, for instance, FF Plus supporters is that the FF Plus said that merit must be the criterion for the appointment of officials and not race. Virtually every coalition where the FF Plus is involved accepted that merit must be the criterion.
“With the 2019 elections, there will also be coalitions in the Gauteng province and therefore voters need to understand that every single vote counts. Even though voters might be voting for different opposition parties, every vote is valuable and will contribute to getting the ANC below 50%,” says Dr. Groenewald.
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