Shortly after the our election on 1 November last year, a delegation of South Africans (from different political parties) was due to visit Denmark to learn about the art of coalition building.

The trip was cancelled because of the (quite unnecessary) Omicron panic.

Now, after two months of intensive coalition negotiations in SA, I have concluded that we could offer the “Master Class” on coalition building. Most of all, I have concluded that the assumptions and “fundamentals” underlying European coalitions, are often absent in our context.

There are so many examples, big and small, that illustrate this. Today I focus on a very small one (with big implications).

The DA is in coalition governments in 23 municipalities across seven provinces in South Africa. Each one has its own complex composition. And each one has a detailed, negotiated coalition agreement which fits its specific circumstances. Putting this all together was a momentous task, undertaken by a small and dedicated team from different parties.

But, I have learnt, signatures at the bottom of a piece of paper often mean little in the context of “Realpolitik”.

In many municipalities, the DA is in a coalition with tiny one-person parties that do not exist outside that municipality. Their decision to go into coalition with the DA, is what keeps the municipality out of ANC hands.

These fragile coalitions take an enormous amount of work to hold together. If any one of the tiny parties decides that its interests are better served by partnering with the ANC, our government falls. Moreover, the ANC is often willing to offer a variety of “inducements” for small parties to “cross the floor”.

In the course of my (almost full-time) job of keeping coalitions together, I recently met a councillor, in a one-person party, whose support is essential to keeping our coalition government in office.

He said he really valued being in the coalition, and had learnt a lot and received a lot of support -- but faced a terrible predicament. His party leader, who is not a public representative, was unemployed, he said. “He needs a job.”.

Spotting this gap, the ANC had informed the councillor that if he left the DA-coalition and moved to an ANC-coalition, they would find a job for his party’s leader.

“I do not want to leave the DA coalition. It is right that I should be here. But my party members are telling me I am selfish. They say that in the DA-coalition we can only get one job. In an ANC-coalition we can get two jobs. They accuse me of Ubuntu, because by staying with the DA, I am only looking after myself!”

He then made it clear that the way to solve the problem, so that he could stay with the DA, was to find a job for his party leader.

“We don’t work that way,” I said lamely. “That is the patronage politics, and it is what the ANC practices, which is one of the main reasons South Africa is in the crisis it now faces.” I elaborated on my argument, but I knew it sounded pitifully weak in the context of the real dilemma the councillor faced, when confronted by his party leader.

So far he has remained firm with the DA. But if the pull of patronage wins, as it most likely will, our government will fall because one person was under pressure to find a job for his party’s leader.

This is how power often changes hands in South Africa. Not because of principles or policy, but on the basis of the personal interests of a single individual. And, I have learnt, access to resources trumps almost everything.

It is very hard to build functional coalition governments in this context, but we will keep trying.

South Africa is a new democracy, and as Francis Fukuyama has pointed out, patronage and clientelism are the foundation of political parties such situations.

The DA will not buckle to this inordinate pressure, and it is essential, for the survival of our democracy, that we succeed.

Countries can only move beyond this venal phase in the context of a strong economy, that offers sufficient job opportunities outside of the state.

With an unemployment rate over 50%, our chances do not look propitious. But many other successful countries have been in seemingly hopeless places before, and have prospered because of the dedication and commitment of comparatively small numbers of people.

I am still convinced that this holds real hope for South Africa, as we continue to shield and build coalitions that can successfully govern municipalities, and bring relief after decades of ANC mis-rule.

Source: https://www.facebook/helenzille