Coalition talks: Small parties throw big demands into the mix

This from dailymaverick.co.za:

By Ranjeni Munusamy

Talks between South Africa’s major political parties on coalitions have not yet yielded any breakthroughs. None of the political parties had anticipated that the 2016 local government elections would result in such a medley of outcomes, with no outright winner in four of the eight metros. It has been difficult to switch from aggressive campaign mode to negotiations mode, which naturally involves bargaining and compromise. Smaller parties appear to have big demands, including the “removal” of the president, which make for tricky negotiations. The situation requires political maturity and some out-of-the-box thinking.

If there is anyone who knows how hard it is to serve in a coalition government it is President Jacob Zuma. The ANC was a minority partner in the KwaZulu-Natal government between 1994 and 1999, the first term of the democratic order. The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won 10.5% of the vote nationally and just over 50% in KwaZulu-Natal in the first election. With the IFP serving in the Government of National Unity nationally, the ANC, which received 32% of the vote in KwaZulu-Natal, had three MECs serving in the provincial government. Zuma was one of the three ANC MECs who served under successive IFP premiers, Frank Mdlalose, Ben Ngubane and Lionel Mtshali.

Full story here:

http://firstthing.dailymaverick.co.za/article.php?id=79700&cid=2016-08-10#.V6rYifl95pg

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