Hannah Omarjee | homarjee@radioislam.co.za
18 April 2023 | 17:00 CAT
2 min read

Photo Credit: The African

Coalition political parties continued to wreck the government in Gauteng. Democratic Alliance (DA’s) Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga was publicly criticised by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) deputy president Kenny Kunene after he claimed the former mayor of Tshwane had been captured during his brief tenure in the position. ActionSA urged maintaining composure and prioritising the needs of the people of Johannesburg over any existing hostilities between the parties.

Political analyst Prof Andre Duvenhage provided Radio Islam International insight into what is happening and how it affects the man on the street.

The PA, currently part of the coalition with the ANC and EFF, is in a critical position responsible for balancing the two sides.

Duvenhage said, “I think they are playing their own politics in that sense, but the fact of the matter is, the end result is high levels of instability.”

This was seen in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Bloemfontein. Duvenhage says this is opportunistic politics, a power play, and personal advantage.

He added that it seems like the ANC must be in power to control metros; therefore, they are building coalitions with minority parties to take over, and the EFF is aligning with them.

Duvenhage believes, from an ideological point of view, that the PA is standing closer to the DA, which could see Johannesburg under the DA rule again.

“A lot of nation-building needs to take place at the grass root level before we can build strong political alliances. But I think, in a way, there are progress. We’ve seen progress in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area a time ago, and I think in Tshwane, there’s a lot of developments.”

Duvenhage said political parties need to grow in ethical conduct and work together to benefit the citizens, not just advance their agendas. He added that the lack of transparent decision-making results in most mayors being without power because of the far-reaching negative implications of service delivery. The mayor cannot decide without consulting coalition parties. Lack of decision-making and difficulty getting budgets through the system influences the tender process, resulting in further delays and poor service delivery for which the ordinary citizen pays the price.

Listen to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim with Ml Junaid Kharsany here