Governing Through Turbulent Coalitions: Will ActionSA Bring Stability to Gauteng Metropolitan Municipalities?

The 2021 Local Government Elections represented a turning point for South Africa’s electoral landscape as it produced a record number (66) of hung municipalities since the democratic dispensation. This follows the 2016 LGEs that brought changes in the control of key metropolitan municipalities (Nelson Mandela Bay, City of Johannesburg and the City of Tshwane). However, post-2016 elections, the coalition governance of these metropolitan municipalities faced instabilities and turbulences produced by different ideologies and interests within coalition partners. The 2021 LGEs saw the emergence of ActionSA strategically influencing the multiparty coalitions in metropolitan municipalities such as Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg. With the noted coalition instabilities pre-ActionSA era, this article interrogates the meaning and implication of the rise of ActionSA for coalition governance in Gauteng metropolitan municipalities post 2021 LGEs. Preliminary evidence shows that ActionSA plays a critical role in stabilising Gauteng metros by acting as the intermediary between the Democratic Alliance and the multiparty coalition partners. In delineating ActionSA’s achievements and challenges in maintaining stability in these metros, the article notes the mammoth task of balancing between stabilising the metros and campaigning to win the metros and votes from and within coalition partners.