STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Voters are not getting their due from municipal coalitions
Smaller parties are not using their muscle and larger ones are not recognising their right to do this
Politicians have taken to complaining that local councils in which no party has a majority of seats are "difficult to manage". Actually, the problem may be that they have been too easy to manage. A previous column pointed out that, where no party has won a majority in local governments, citizens’ groups now have a huge opportunity for influence, which they have failed to take. But it has also become clear that political parties have little idea of how government is meant to work in this new reality. Since coalitions may soon become an important part of our politics, the fact that parties have little idea how to handle them is a worry. Both the DA and Gauteng co-operative governance MEC Paul Mashatile complained last week about the trouble caused by "hung councils", although Mashatile did admit that this had not affected their ability to provide services. But, while multiparty government is always complicated, the fact that key councils, including four in metropolitan areas, have fai...
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