ActionSA provides insights at National Dialogue on Coalition Framework

4 August 2023

ActionSA, today, attended the National Dialogue on a Coalition Framework, hosted by Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, and submitted views of where we believe the Coalition Framework is on the right path and where we believe it is found to be lacking.

From the outset, ActionSA flagged that we currently have our last majoritarian Parliament in our democracy and should therefore consider important legislative changes that will define the direction of multi-party coalitions to follow for many years to come.

It has further been recorded by ActionSA that the Coalition Framework focuses almost exclusively on legislative reform in a misguided view that we can legislate stable coalitions. ActionSA submits that countries with stable coalitions establish institutions that invest in the maturation of political parties, civil society and voters with a coalition context.

A key question ActionSA has flagged is the advice offered by researchers in the Coalition Framework that coalition instability must be mitigated by a professional public service that continues to function to the benefit of all residents even in times of political instability. ActionSA has recorded that this advice remains antithetical to the ANC’s policy on cadre deployment and this cannot be another example of ignoring what is needed for our country because it is in conflict with ANC policy.

As it relates to legislative reforms, ActionSA has made a number of submissions, including:

An electoral threshold of 1% be considered to balance the need for smaller numbers of parties in coalitions without compromising minority representation in our diverse country;

Public Representatives cannot continue to exercise secrecy in how they elect office bearers and bring an end to the selling of votes which has become common place in legislatures;

Motions of No Confidence be replaced by impeachment processes that effectively require the satisfaction of a legal standard being achieved that the removal of an office bearer is required rather than another power grab; and

Electoral reform will be required to ensure that voters elect, and therefore hold accountable, elected representatives and not just political parties, for how they vote and conduct themselves in coalitions.

The National Dialogue is itself an initiative that ActionSA welcomes and our representations centred around the idea that political parties must engage more in the future. Dialogue is important, however, it cannot be talk that fails to become action that leads to more effective and stable coalitions that serve the South African people.

ActionSA remains cognisant of the reality that coalitions are the future and that ActionSA must be a choice for South Africans who seek a party that is growing, that governs well and that works with other political parties to the benefit of the people of our country.

Issued by Michael Beaumont, ActionSA National Chairperson, 4 August 2023