Coalition politics under scrutiny as service delivery suffers ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
South Africa’s growing reliance on coalition governments is increasingly being felt beyond council chambers, with political instability disrupting budgets, delaying projects and threatening basic services such as water, sanitation and waste management.
A study commissioned by the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA) found that 65% of participants reported frequent or occasional disruptions to service delivery, including delayed or halted infrastructure projects and backlogs in water, sanitation and waste management.
The study also found that coalition instability was disrupting council decisions, policy implementation and municipal administration, while 48% of senior managers reported frequent or consistent delays in budget processes, with negotiations becoming increasingly politicised.
The findings come as political parties clash over whether coalition governments are worsening service delivery, with several major metros expected to return councils without a clear majority after the 2026 local government elections.
The LGSETA study notes that coalitions were once an exception in South African local government, but the 2016 and 2021 elections produced more councils without a clear majority, making multi-party government increasingly common in municipalities including Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.
Political analyst Sandile Swana cautioned against blaming coalition governments for South Africa’s broader municipal problems, pointing to KwaZulu-Natal’s experience of coalition politics and the ANC and IFP’s history of working together.
“The province of KZN can probably be given the title of 'Masters of Coalition Politics',” Swana said.
He said governance problems in some municipalities were instead being driven by internal political battles and competition for resources, warning these tensions could intensify ahead of the elections.
Political analyst and Middle East Africa Research Institute research fellow Kenneth Kgwadi, however, said coalition politics was exposing deeper weaknesses in municipal governance.
“We've had the bad taste of coalition politics in South Africa where parties do as they please because they are not governed,” Kgwadi said.
He said coalition infighting was directly affecting service delivery, particularly in Johannesburg.
“The infighting within coalitions results into poor service delivery,” he said.
Kgwadi also questioned how municipalities could pass budgets when coalition partners could not agree.
“How do you pass a budget when you do not see eye to eye, it becomes almost impossible,” he said.
Kuhle Maseko, spokesperson for former Tshwane mayor and current DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink, echoed the same sentiments as Kgwadi that the city’s experience showed how political instability could prevent a municipality from breaking with longstanding governance problems.
Maseko said the ANC governed Tshwane with a council majority for 16 years before losing that majority in 2016, when the DA obtained the mayoral position but could not secure control of council.
He said the resulting political deadlock made it difficult to implement budget, policy and personnel changes, while subsequent coalition shifts further destabilised the city.
Maseko said the DA eventually formed a majority coalition after the 2021 elections, including ActionSA, but that ActionSA later switched its support to an ANC-led coalition.
He said the changes had left Tshwane without a sustained programme of government, while alleging that networks established during the ANC’s previous period of control remained entrenched.
The DA also points to worsening service-delivery indicators. Maseko said water losses had increased from 32% to 40%, while water-tanker spending reached R777 million in 2025. He also said the city experienced more power outages in 2025 than during the period of Eskom load-shedding.
Maseko argued that the problem was not simply coalition government, but unstable coalitions without a clear governing majority.
“It is critical that whoever governs Tshwane after 2026 has a majority, either by themselves or through a strong and stable coalition,” he said.
The ANC has meanwhile argued that coalition instability has undermined “governance, financial administration and service delivery”, while the DA has accused the party of using coalition politics to deflect from its own record.
“The common denominator is therefore not coalition government. It is the ANC,” DA Federal Council Chairperson Ashor Sarupen said.
Samkelo Mgobozi, from the Office of the Tshwane Executive Mayor, however, said it would be “too simplistic” to blame the city’s service-delivery challenges solely on coalition governance, pointing to ageing infrastructure, financial pressures, longstanding backlogs, illegal connections and the growth of informal settlements.
However, he acknowledged that Tshwane has experienced periods of political instability, which he said can affect continuity, decision-making and the implementation of long-term programmes.
“Political instability can compound these challenges where it disrupts decision making, weakens continuity or prevents the implementation of a consistent programme,” he said.
The Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, commonly known as the Coalitions Bill, is currently before Parliament and is being fast-tracked ahead of the local government elections. The Bill seeks to provide a legislative framework for coalition governments, including formal written coalition agreements between parties.
