The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, has issued the Guidelines for Stable Coalitions in Local Government as political parties and independent candidates begin coalition negotiations following last week’s local government elections. The guidelines come after 138 metropolitan and local municipalities failed to secure an outright majority for a single political party, creating the need for coalition arrangements across the country. According to Hlabisa, the guidelines are intended to help municipalities manage coalition governance, strengthen institutional…

uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party’s national chief negotiator, Dali Mpofu, has confirmed that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has approached several political parties within the Council of the Left to initiate coalition discussions. Mpofu was speaking at the Birchwood Hotel during a joint media briefing hosted by the Council of the Left, a grouping comprising several smaller political organisations, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South African Communist Party (SACP), African Congress for Transformation (ACT) and Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO). He revealed…

The Presidency has defended salary increases for public office-bearers following criticism from trade unions COSATU and NEHAWU, insisting that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not determine the increases unilaterally but followed a process prescribed by law. Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya addressed the criticism during a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday, explaining that Ramaphosa had approved increases that were lower than those recommended by the Public Office-Bearers Commission, except in the case of judges and magistrates, whose salaries he suggested required…