Talks to form a new government in Nelson Mandela Bay have advanced, with parties drawing up the first draft of a coalition agreement.
This comes as party bigwigs, including DA Federal Council chair Helen Zille and potential coalition partners met at the Dolphin’s Leap Conference & Events Centre on Wednesday.
While no agreement had been entered into, changes were made to what has been called a “draft draft draft” document.
The document details how the new coalition government, should it be successfully formed, would host media briefings every quarter to showcase the health of the coalition and the performance of the multiparty government.
The working document was discussed by parties including the DA, ACDP, GOOD, AIM, AIC, PAC, UDM, DOP and the FF+.
The PA, the ANC and EFF were the only parties not at the meeting.
FF+ chief whip Corne Mulder and MP Piet Mey were also at the meeting.
Cracks in the current governing coalition, which is led by the ANC, started to show when parties could not reach an agreement around the appointment of a city manager.
The UDM refused to back Noxolo Nqwazi for the position and other parties followed suit.
Parties have also complained about how the ANC managed the coalition and what they say is the mayor’s poor response to the water crisis.
Some parties are itching to have mayor Eugene Johnson removed through a no-confidence vote.
Meanwhile, the draft coalition document states that no party would take ownership of the coalition, with the partnership set to be called “the coalition government”.
The document also details how national and provincial party leaders would be involved through the establishment of a Coalition Oversight Group (COG).
The oversight group would comprise national leaders or provincial leaders and would meet every quarter, also adjudicating over any disputes that may arise.
“The purpose of the COG is to maintain oversight to monitor the health and strength of the coalition relationship and to observe the management committee (MC) or joint caucus (JC) with regards to coalition effectiveness, co-operation between parties, strain and transparency,” the document states.
According to the document, a portfolio caucus, a joint caucus, a management committee and a coalition oversight group would be established.
DA Eastern Cape chair Andrew Whitfield said the document had been drafted by a national technical task team that dealt with coalitions across the country.
“The draft document is the foundation of all the individual coalition agreements that we enter into across SA,” Whitfield said.
“We are in government in 39 municipalities and many of those are coalitions.”
He said the document was a starting point with some changes to be made.
“We had a meeting to discuss a potential coalition.
“It was a follow-up to a previous meeting held last week and various parties made contributions to a draft coalition agreement which is still under discussion and is being finalised,” Whitfield said.
He said the parties would meet again to agree to a final version of the coalition agreement and parties would be invited to sign.
“The coalition agreement is the document that binds the coalition, there is no coalition until the agreement is signed there,” Whitfield said.
He said the DA was still concerned about the court matter involving speaker Gary van Niekerk and the municipality having an acting city manager as well as a city manager.
Van Niekerk’s position as council speaker is still up in the air after Nqwazi declared that he, along with other Northern Alliance councillors Bevan Brown and Stag Mitchell, were no longer councillors.
The case was before the Gqeberha high court last week, with acting judge Jean Nepgen reserving judgment.
“In the current situation, until there is legal certainty on the issue of the city manager, the MEC’s office has a responsibility to ensure that the council can conduct its business in an environment without any potential legal contestation,” Whitfield said.
According to insiders, minor changes were made to the “living document”, dated May 2022.
UDM spokesperson Yongama Zigebe said they were happy with the progress that had been made so far.
“We have been wanting this to happen for a long time and we have expressed our dissatisfaction about how the DA handled the matter.
“Things are currently going slow and we appreciate that parties want to be sure about what they are getting into,” Zigebe said.
FF+ councillor Bill Harrington said the meeting was proof the city was on its way to stability.
“The FF+ is happy that the bloc is serious about service delivery and issues affecting Nelson Mandela Bay.
“We are happy with where we are, I don’t foresee any major hiccups,” Harrington said.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom also said the party was happy with what had been presented as it spoke to the ACDP’s objectives.
“We contributed extensively to the document and we believe it goes to the heart of our values and our commitment to residents,” Grootboom said.
Attempts to reach GOOD representative Siyanda Mayana, AIM councillor Khusta Jack and AIC councillor Thsonono Buyeye, as well as PAC councillor Bassie Kamana, were unsuccessful.
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