South Africa Issues Stable-Coalition Guidelines as 138 Municipalities Lack a Majority; CCMA Marks 30 Years With a 76% Settlement Rate

The South African Government News Agency (SAnews) summarised a round of government developments in its November 12 morning edition: Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa issued the Guidelines for Stable Coalitions in Local Government to help municipalities form coalition governments after the November 4 local elections left many councils without a single-party majority; National Treasury Director-General Duncan Pieterse briefed investors in Cape Town on progress under the Operation Vulindlela structural reforms; the International Conference on Access to Justice got under way at Sun City in the North West; and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) marked 30 years with a dispute settlement rate of 76% in the 2025/26 financial year.

Hlabisa said the November 4 local government elections confirmed coalition governance as a significant feature of South Africa's local government landscape: approximately 138 metropolitan and local municipalities, representing about 65% of councils, produced no outright majority for a single political party, and will require coalition arrangements, minority governments or other forms of cooperative governance.

The guidelines provide practical guidance on political collaboration, the development of coalition agreements, applicable legislative requirements, dispute resolution and measures to safeguard continuity in municipal administration. They encourage coalition partners to enter into written agreements setting out shared policy priorities, the allocation of political responsibilities, decision-making processes, standards of conduct and mechanisms for resolving disputes, and include a template coalition agreement.

The guidelines also stress a clear distinction between political governance and professional municipal administration: administrative appointments, procurement and tender awards must remain with legally authorised decision-makers, and coalition agreements must not interfere with them. "Coalition governance is a legitimate feature of our democratic system. However, our experience has shown that prolonged political instability, frequent changes in municipal leadership and delays in decision-making can weaken municipal institutions, disrupt administration, and ultimately compromise service delivery. The people who suffer most from such instability are the residents who depend on municipalities for essential services," Hlabisa said.

On timing, the guidelines note that under the current legislative framework the first meeting of metropolitan and local municipal councils must be convened within 14 days after publication of the Government Gazette notice naming the elected councillors, and that coalition negotiations do not suspend or extend those timeframes. Provincial Members of Executive Councils responsible for local government are to distribute the guidelines to all municipalities, support implementation and monitor compliance.

On economic reform, Director-General Duncan Pieterse told the Old Mutual Investment Group "Tomorrow" Investment Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday that government has taken landmark decisions this year through Operation Vulindlela that will end century-old monopolies and open markets to competition and private investment. Operation Vulindlela is a joint delivery initiative of the Presidency and the National Treasury designed to accelerate high-impact structural reforms and drive economic recovery.

Pieterse said lifting the licensing requirement in 2022 opened the market to new private renewable energy generators, prompted a surge of investment and helped end the electricity crisis, but the constraint is now the national grid itself, which needs more than R100 billion of investment to expand and modernise, most of it from private investors. The next step is to establish the National Transmission Company of South Africa, already created as an Eskom subsidiary, as a fully independent, state-owned Transmission System Operator that owns and controls the transmission assets and provides open, non-discriminatory access to the grid.

Similar opening is under way elsewhere: Cabinet recently approved the approach to unbundling the ports authority from Transnet; freight rail has been opened to private operators and the first privately owned trains have started testing the lines; the Electronic Travel Authorisation visa system was officially launched in August; in water, the revised pricing strategy is in place, new raw water use charges have been approved and work is progressing on the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency; and Home Affairs has unveiled a digital ID prototype.

On justice, the International Conference on Access to Justice runs from November 11 to 13 at the Sun City Convention Centre in the North West, hosted by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, with President Cyril Ramaphosa addressing the conference. It coincides with South Africa's commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Constitution. "Justice must never be the privilege of the few. It must be the birthright of all," Kubayi said. Over three decades, she noted, government has dismantled apartheid-era laws, rationalised magisterial boundaries to bring courts closer to communities and established specialised courts for domestic violence, sexual offences and land claims, while Legal Aid South Africa and Community Advice Offices expanded frontline support for indigent citizens.

Kubayi cautioned that digital tools such as electronic filing and super intelligence (SI) can ease court backlogs, but that unequal connectivity and digital literacy must be addressed so technology closes the justice gap rather than digitising it.

On labour, Employment and Labour Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya told the CCMA's 30th Anniversary Commemorative Conference in Tshwane on Wednesday that the commission has maintained a dispute settlement rate above 70% throughout its 30 years, reaching 76% in 2025/26, with about three in four disputes concluded through agreements the parties reached themselves. Established in November 1996 under the Labour Relations Act of 1995, the CCMA has recorded more than four million referrals over three decades, growing from 62,927 referrals in its first year to roughly three times that number annually, and from 10 offices to 25, with a free online labour advice tool and a WhatsApp chatbot launched in July 2026. Sibiya also outlined proposed labour law amendments, including raising statutory severance pay for dismissals on operational grounds from one to two weeks' remuneration per completed year of service and new protections for on-call and zero-hours workers, proposals that remain subject to consultation and parliamentary consideration.

In Gauteng, the provincial Transport Inspectorate, working with the Road Traffic Management Corporation and other agencies, ran stop-and-search operations on high-risk public transport corridors from November 1 to 8: officers netted 57 minibus taxis operating without licence discs and 63 drivers without valid driving licences, discontinued 21 unroadworthy minibus taxis, impounded a further 16 vehicles and issued 727 handwritten traffic infringement notices across the province.

Related: IEC Declares South Africa's 2026 Local Elections Free and Fair; One Voting Station Ordered to Revote After Ballots Destroyed

(Source: South African Government News Agency)

Source: South African Government News Agency

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：南非合作治理与传统事务部长 Velenkosini Hlabisa 在记者会上发言。照片：南非政府新闻署（SAnews）供图，该署明示媒体可免费使用其图片并注明出处。 / Photo: South African Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa at a media briefing. Photo: SAnews, which states media may use its pictures at no cost provided SAnews is credited.

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