SAToday - The DA matches talk with action on coalition governments

Helen Zille, Leader of the Democratic Alliance
13 March 2009

Last week, I challenged COPE’s leaders to assure South Africans that they would not take their party into a coalition with the ANC after the election. This week, both COPE’s leader, Mosiuoa Lekota, and presidential candidate, Mvume Dandala, ruled out the possibility of a coalition with the ANC.  They should pass this message on to Leonard Ramatlakane, a leading COPE member in the Western Cape. In a debate with me this morning, Ramatlakane still held open the door for a coalition with the ANC, saying a decision would only be made after the election.
 
While COPE continues to vacillate on the issue, most other opposition parties are taking a firm line.  UDM leader Bantu Holomisa and various other opposition leaders have reiterated their willingness to form coalition governments with other opposition parties.
 
That is good news, because the future of South African politics lies in opposition parties coming together on the basis of shared values to stop the ANC’s near monopoly on power, which has inevitably resulted in gross power abuse. More than that, the opposition has a duty to provide an alternative model of governance that works. The only way to do this is for us to build a new majority, step by step, starting from the foundation of local government.
 
This is the process of “realignment” which, for some time, I have predicted will fundamentally alter our political landscape by 2014, when another general election will be held.
 
The DA initiated this process when we came to power in the City of Cape Town in 2006 in a seven-party coalition, with a majority of a single seat in the 210-seat Council, and formed the DA-led Multiparty Government. That was the first phase of the realignment process. Our coalition has worked reasonably well: it has facilitated a convergence around policies for an open, opportunity society for all; it has accelerated service delivery; and it has rooted out corruption in the City and cracked down on crime. It has begun to clear up the mess left by the ANC.
 
The DA pioneered the realignment process and we have consistently championed and managed it. We will see it through to its final phase.  We plan to be the catalyst to bring people together on the basis of shared values to challenge the ANC’s power abuse.  During the next five years this process will gather so much momentum that the DA plans to form the core of an alternative government nationally by 2014.  A major challenge lies ahead, but we believe it can be done. We are determined to prevent South Africa going the way of Zimbabwe.
 
Although we have established and led successful coalitions, let it be said that coalitions are very difficult to manage and are inherently fragile.  It is much easier to govern when you have enough support to win.
 
Then we can match our words with deeds and be held accountable for them.
 
We have always said that we will never go into coalition with the ANC, and we have not. The same cannot be said of some other opposition parties. Many voters still remember that shortly before the 2006 local government elections, ID leader Patricia de Lille told the Financial Mail that “we [the ID] are not going to back [the ANC’s] Nomaindia [Mfeketo] for mayor [of Cape Town]  and that is non-negotiable”, only to break that promise a few days later. One newspaper immediately dubbed her “Patricia de Liar”. Voters were outraged by the ID’s about-turn. Fortunately, however, the ID subsequently saw the error of its ways and took up our offer to join the Multiparty Government, where, along with our other coalition partners, it plays a valuable role.
 
In the next phase of realignment, the DA will defeat the ANC in some provinces on 22 April – either on its own or in coalition with other parties.  We are on track to win the Western Cape, and there is a good chance that we will be able to take the lead in forming coalition governments in Gauteng and the Northern Cape.
 
Entering this phase, the DA has a very clear purpose: we want to show what real co-operative governance between local authorities and a province can achieve. A victory in the Western Cape will allow us to do that. Both the local and provincial spheres of government are closely inter-linked in many ways (such as housing, transport, economic development and planning) and we can attain exceptional outcomes if we all pull together, rather than in opposite directions.  Despite improvements in recent months, we are nowhere close to optimal co-operative governance between the DA-led City of Cape Town and the ANC-run provincial administration.
 
In fact, for the last three years the Province has actually worked to undermine the City’s delivery programme in housing, in community safety, in public transport, in tourism and other crucial areas.
 
The Province has still not granted the City of Cape Town housing accreditation, which would transfer authority to approve housing projects and subsidies to the City. With full accreditation, the City would be able to approve housing projects in 2 to 3 months, compared to the current provincial Housing Department’s time of 8 to 18 months. When the DA, or a DA-led coalition, takes control of the Western Cape after 22 April, we will move to grant housing accreditation to the City, which has a more efficient administration than Province. We will transfer former Housing Board Land to the City, and focus on getting the remaining provincial housing projects outside of Cape Town working properly. We will also ensure speedy planning approvals for housing projects and timeous transfer of infrastructure funding to the City.
 
The ANC controlled provincial Department of Community Safety has undermined the City of Cape Town on a number of key initiatives. During the outbreak of xenophobic violence in 2008, it refused to take the lead role in supporting about 20 000 displaced foreign nationals, even when the situation was declared a provincial disaster. Instead, the City’s disaster management team had to shoulder over R100 million in costs, and the City had to provide over 90% of the accommodation for displaced persons. The Province has also put obstacles in the way of a co-ordinated response to drug abuse in Cape Town. Instead of working with the City to shut down drug dens, the Province has instead attacked me in my capacity as Mayor, going so far as to arrest me unlawfully in Mitchells Plain during an anti-drug dealer protest in 2007.
 
As for public transport, the most serious problem for the City is the Province’s inability to run the Minibus Taxi Permit Office. This has resulted in about 10 000 unlicensed taxis operating in Cape Town. Together with a total failure of law enforcement by Province, this has surrendered Cape Town’s public transport to mob rule, factionalism and protection rackets for unlicensed taxi operators in the National Taxi Association (NTA). Members of the NTA have already burnt tyres in the city centre in violent protest against our new integrated rapid transport system, which will bring all taxis, buses and trains under the control of one private company.
 
This week representatives of the NTA stormed out of a meeting with me. They represent under 10% of the taxi industry in Cape Town, yet they are determined to thwart any development in public transport in Cape Town, even if this means violence, intimidation and destruction of property. I am equally determined that Cape Town will not be held to ransom by a bunch of warlords. That is why, on Tuesday, I made it clear that if the police failed to maintain law and order, it would be necessary to bring in the army to enable the state to fulfil its primary duty of protecting life and property.  The last round of taxi violence a few weeks ago was marked by death and destruction of property that the police were unable to prevent.  It is time for the Province to support our stance because our first responsibility is to secure the safety of hundreds of thousands of commuters every day. They must be protected from the violence and intimidation of taxi warlords and rogue operators. When we win the Western Cape, we will significantly increase enforcement capacity to deal with taxis, and work with the City to introduce more stringent laws (especially impounding vehicles), to bring greater order to the industry.
 
These are just a few examples of how co-operative governance would improve people’s lives. They show why it is so important that we achieve our goals in this election, to drive forward the next phase of realignment: the 2011 local government elections, in which we plan to win cities and towns across South Africa. If the DA and a coalition of opposition forces could pull off victories in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Kimberley and many other smaller towns, we would govern the economic heartland of the country.  And if we continue to govern well, and continue to show up the ANC, then our momentum will be unstoppable.
 
In the final phase of the realignment process, the DA will form the core of a national coalition government in 2014. All opposition parties need to make sure that the realignment is a success by emphatically rejecting any talk of coalitions with the ANC. They must match that talk with action, like we do in the DA. Help us achieve our goals in this election by voting the ANC out of power in provinces throughout South Africa. Vote DA and vote to win!