Newsletter: No Blank Cheques
28 October 2026
In August 2023, Deputy President Paul Mashatile convened a National Dialogue on Coalition Governments at UWC. It was supposed to ensure an open process in developing a legal framework for stable coalitions at local government level. Some political parties, NGO’s, media and academics came. We were there too. It wasn’t much of a dialogue, and, despite the meeting’s objective, the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) informed us at the convening that a bill had already been drafted months before.
At the dialogue the ANC and DA backed a 1% threshold for winning a council seat while smaller parties rejected it outright – with some boycotting the dialogue. Most parties, however, did agree on the need for coalition agreements to be public.
Despite the dialogue ending without consensus, government published its Coalitions Bill for public comment in May 2024 with the 1% threshold still in it. In our written submission, MVC accepted the need for some rules; but rejected others, because they favour larger parties, discourage electoral participation, undermine democracy and weaken voters rights. Then, Parliament just forgot about the urgency to address issues related to accountable coalition government and shelved the Bill.
More than two years after the first draft and the formation of the self-proclaimed Government of National Unity, government brought a revised Coalitions Bill back to Parliament in August, about three months before the LGE that is expected to produce even more hung councils. The new version is better, since the 1% threshold was dropped, but it is still flawed, and it will not become law before voters go to the polls.
Careless delays
This careless delay reveals Parliament’s lack of urgency in ensuring more accountable (and stable, I guess) local government. Cabinet only approved the Bill in July 2026, and it reached the National Assembly on 18 August. After this, MVC wrote to Parliament urging it not to rush the Bill at the expense of public participation, and Parliament’s own legal advisers gave the same warning. The Portfolio Committee on COGTA has since accepted that the bill cannot pass before the elections, and it’s called for public submissions by 27 November. Parliament’s advisers estimate that it could take two years for the Bill to be passed.
But whether more regulation to our politics will ensure that public representatives are more accountable to people, is up for debate.
What is clear is that after we vote local councils will be formed and compromises will be made in board rooms. Voters must force every coalition agreement to be published before mayors are elected.
No blank cheques
That’s why My Vote Counts wrote to the top 20 political parties1 requesting that they outline their coalition principles, possible partners and, importantly, commit to making all coalition agreements public.
ActionSA, ACDP, GOOD, Rise Mzansi, UDM and VF+ committed to making coalition agreements public, while the DA said it saw no need to. Despite several follow-ups, the other parties did not respond at all. The ANC’s manifesto already promises to make its agreements public, so it has no excuse. We will keep up the pressure to ensure every coalition agreement is public before mayors are chosen, and we’ll publish who committed and who didn’t.
On 4 November, our votes will give parties and independents a mandate to govern, not a blank cheque to cut elite deals in secret. If no one gets a majority, parties will make compromises to get a seat at the table. Promises on social housing, free basic services and protecting the poor from eviction are easily traded for the mayor’s chair or a committee post. These elite pacts decide which promises survive and who pays for the compromise. When the agreement is public, communities can see what was dropped, hold parties to what they promised, and make them pay at the ballot box and in the streets if they break it.
Compromise and power-sharing are a normal part of coalition government, but this new political reality doesn’t automatically lead to instability. It can open space for communities to bargain with power on different terms and have more of a say in the decisions that shape their lives, but only if people use it.
Public coalition agreements are only the start. A published deal is not an accountable one, and no court will do the accountability work for us. Our work comes after 4 November, when we can scrutinise the agreements against what parties promised, see what was dropped and whose interests were favoured and make parties pay for it. Ultimately, communities must have a say before a deal is signed. Parties should publish their priorities and red lines before talks start and consult communities and voters on them. Until people have a say in what goes into a coalition agreement, power-sharing will remain a pact between elites, not an arrangement made with the people it governs.
For now, voters and communities can demand that every ward candidate and party commit to publishing their coalition agreements, and once one party commits, the others will be under pressure to follow.
No more elite pacts. No blank cheques. Let the people govern.
Minhaj Jeenah
Executive Director| My Vote Counts
