Durban - The DA and IFP in KwaZulu-Natal are expected to sign a new agreement next week that looks to further entrench the parties’ approach to coalition governance ahead of next year’s elections.
The service delivery pact looks to build on a co-operation agreement the two parties signed last year and will focus on the uMhlathuze Local Municipality, uThukela District Municipality, Amajuba District Municipality and the Abaqulusi Municipality.
Both parties said the dismal picture painted by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke in the Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes for the 2021-2022 financial year outlined the need to focus on service delivery.
Maluleke’s report found that municipalities had not only regressed in terms of their overall financial health, but 70 of them were also flagged as facing significant risks to continue functioning as going concerns.
The IFP has also agreed to be part of DA leader John Steenhuisen’s “moonshot pact” and discuss the prospects of joining the party’s proposed coalition agreement.
The IFP has however, echoed the concern of other parties and cautioned the DA against adopting a big brother attitude.
Other parties, such as the United Democratic Movement and African Christian Democratic Party, have rejected the DA’s proposal.
IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli said the agreement had not been finalised and was aimed to be a common understanding of what needed to be done in terms of service delivery.
“It is a memorandum of understanding on how the coalition will operate. It is about joining together in a common understanding of what residents need for service delivery.”
DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers said the agreement was in four municipalities where the parties held the Municipal Public Accounts Committee chairperson role.
“We will still be in opposition but work together to address service delivery failures; the agreement once finalised will look at how to address these issues as two separate parties. It is about sticking to certain standards.”