Government urges parties to consider coalitions in hung councils
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen on Sunday urged political parties to seriously consider coalitions to avoid councils remaining hung.
“As a government we should indicate that coalition arrangements are provided for in our democratic system, duly so, and we expect all political parties to take advantage of that in the interests of service delivery to our people,” Van Rooyen said while addressing a media briefing as head of the inter-ministerial committee on elections.
Van Rooyen’s comments come as coalition talks were set to get underway in various municipalities where a political party could not get an outright majority. They include the metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Ekurhuleni.
Municipal managers have 14 days from the date of the declaration of the election results to call the first council meeting where a speaker and mayor will be elected.
“It is not our wish to a get a situation where, because of no arrangements in a municipality, the provision of service delivery is compromised. We are very optimistic that the hung municipality situation will be resolved within the provided time frame,” he said.