LETTER: Woode-Smith’s opinion on SA coalitions should be written in crayon

I refer to Nicholas Woode-Smith's letter (“Only coalitions failing are those where ActionSA and ANC weigh in,” March 2). The author is a serial defender of the DA, as is the tendency of representatives of the Institute for Race Relations (IRR).

Look no further than Woode-Smith’s indignation that ActionSA dares to contest in the Western Cape where, presumably, he is in favour of a political monopoly — an odd position for a self-proclaimed classical liberal.

In spectacularly reductionist fashion he comes to the conclusion that coalitions work well elsewhere and, therefore, the instability of coalitions in Gauteng is a product of the ANC and ActionSA. This argument really ought to be written in crayon. 

There is ample evidence of coalitions falling apart in Nelson Mandela Bay, Knysna, Theewaterskloof and numerous other places where ActionSA did not contest in the 2021 local government elections. Even the simplicity of Woode-Smith’s reductionist argument falls apart when someone asks such simple questions. 

To prop up his tenuous argument Woode-Smith suggests ActionSA sabotaged the appointment of a municipal manager in Johannesburg, despite the fact that all parties in the coalition (including the DA) came to the conclusion that former DA mayor Mpho Phalatse botched the process. ActionSA did not sabotage the election of a new speaker in Johannesburg, as Woode-Smith claims, but supported the coalition candidate despite the DA’s refusal to accommodate other parties. Our departure from Ekurhuleni made no difference to an already minority coalition whose governance is an unmitigated disaster that reveals the cracks in the idea of DA governance being better.

The uncomfortable truth that Woode-Smith invites by way of this response is the fact that the DA is actively planning coalitions with the ANC in 2024. This has been stated by Helen Zille, John Steenhuisen, Geordin Hill-Lewis, Solly Msimanga and various others on numerous occasions. It is planned on the absurd notion that the DA will be able to control the ANC from within the belly of the beast without any regard for the fraud that is an official opposition conspiring to give the ANC the majority voters intend to deny them.

Woode-Smith needs no reminder of any of this. The IRR, of which he is a part, has played the leading role in hijacking the DA, driving its reversion to its origins in the DP and now, most recently, pushing the DA towards a deal with the ANC.

Perhaps there may be more credible people to opine on what makes for better and more stable coalitions?

Michael Beaumont
National chair, Action SA

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