UDM decision on coalitions in Local Government 2016

17 August 2016

Pursuant to the 2016 Municipal Elections on 3 August, which resulted in 27 hung councils across the country, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) was approached by both the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) with the view to form coalition governments. 
The UDM has always understood coalition government as a form of cooperation between political parties who agree on specific principles and programmes to address the challenges of service delivery. Central to these is the immediate need to create jobs, eradicate poverty, fight and uproot corruption and promote good governance. 
We used our 2016 Municipal Elections Manifesto as a compass in engaging with all the parties that took part in coalition discussions. The central theme of our Manifesto is to: “Put Community First”. 
In our view, the results of the 2016 Municipal Elections are a clarion call to all political parties to join hands with communities and civil society to provide visionary leadership to the country through local government.

The electorate has rejected the corrupt and arrogant governance of the ANC and has not endorsed any party in the hung councils. The message sent by the electorate is significant for our system of government and our constitutional democracy. We are firm in our resolve to respect the voice of the electorate at all times and will do everything possible to not disappoint them.
The empty promises, the shoddy work and the non-functioning local sphere of government which is characterised by, amongst others, a lack of properly maintained infrastructure and a lack of visionary leadership, has been rejected.

The electorate has called for an immediate end of bickering between political parties and focus on the work to be done. In this regard, the UDM commits that, in all municipalities in which it will be assisting with governance, it shall be non-partisan, and will place the people of South Africa first.

We wish to advise that in order to not inherit problems, there must be a comprehensive handover process. The councils must strengthen their oversight role over the administration. There must be stability in the administrations of councils and workers should be assured of their positions as long as they stay out of politics and take public service as a profession. We must draw a clear line between government and a political party.

COOPERATION (COALITION) BASED ON A COMMON AGENDA

We believe that the glue that binds all political parties in a coalition is the commitment to provide basic services to the all, irrespective of their socio economic circumstances and ideological differences of the parties.

TALKS WITH OTHER PARTIES

During our discussions with other parties, additional issues were raised, many of which were of national nature. We then solicited commitment from both the ANC and DA to enter into a process of resolving such issues.

A detailed agreement statement shall be published during a joint media briefing with other affected parties. We remain committed to the need for a National Convention that will be seized with the responsibility to resolve the issues of national concern.

BUDGET IMPLICATIONS / REVIEW

Amongst other things to be agreed upon as a matter of urgency, is the budget review so that it responds to the issues raised above. National and provincial governments are already in the process of the mid-term budget review and municipalities will be entering this process very soon as they have just adopted IDPs and budget two months ago. Accordingly, as parties, we strongly agree that the next six months should be used to review and realign budgets in order to ensure maximum resourcing of the above priorities.

The voters’ will must not be tested by using the budgeting process to manipulate political outcomes and frustrate service delivery. The national and provincial governments must not make themselves guilty of circumventing the goals of local councils by interfering with budget allocations and processes.

The powers that be must be reminded that each penny allocated to and spent on behalf of government has been paid for by the South African taxpayer. These monies do not belong to political parties, but it belongs to the people - and for coalitions to work effectively, all parties must remember to put the people first.

Given all the above issues, and after extensive consultation with UDM leadership, structures and members, we have decided to enter into coalition governments with the opposition parties.

- In the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
- In Rustenburg and, 
- depending on the outstanding matters being resolved with regard to the City of Johannesburg, we will be part of a coalition government.

We wish to emphasise, that these coalitions are in fact a cooperation of opposition parties for better service delivery. It must never be misconstrued as a party-to-party coalition.

We wish to express our humble gratitude to all political parties that participated in the coalition discussions. This process has created hope that South Africans are able to work together to create a winning nation. Parties were able to take a mandate from the electorate and worked collectively irrespective of their ideological standing.

Issued by Bantu Holomisa, UDM leader, 17 August 2016