New challenges for DA in Cape Town

[duncan drennan]

It seems that the DA is now facing a new challenge in the Western Cape.

The African Muslim Party (AMP) is no longer part of the of city's government after one of its members, with the approval of his party leadership, was found to have engaged in "secret talks" with the African National Congress (ANC), mayor Helen Zille said.

The AMP has three seats on the council, which means that should it join a coalition with the ANC and the Independent Democrats (ID), it will outnumber the remainder of the DA-led coalition.

The DA's coalition now has 103 seats, while the ANC, ID and AMP together have 106 seats. The Pan African Congress has one seat on the 210-member council.
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According to Zille, Chaaban had demanded that councillors from the city's coalition parties support him in his bid to become deputy mayor, threatening that his party would pull out of the coalition should he not get the necessary support.
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"We will not be blackmailed to stay in power," she (Helen Zille) said.

Read the full article, "Major blow for DA's Cape Town coalition" on M&G

I wonder what actions would be best for their constituency? It brings an interesting question to the fore:

If the best thing for their constituency is to remain in power, should you allow yourself to be blackmailed?

Obviously there is a big problem of being continually blackmailed if you allow it to happen once. I think I would have to say I agree with their current approach - I still have to sleep with myself when I go to bed at night, and it is all the small choices that contribute towards who we are.

[Dave A]

The whole setup has been balanced on a knife-edge from the start. The real concern is the disruption to continuity. If an ANC led coalition gets in now, there are bound to be a number of decision reversals.

Arguing about constituency interests is all fine and well - but it's the material personal interests that are probably being played on

[duncan drennan]

Arguing about constituency interests is all fine and well - but it's the material personal interests that are probably being played on

That's for sure - it just set off a random pondering thought about ethics

[Dave A]

Looks like you've been saved by the ID.

[duncan drennan]

Looks like you've been saved by the ID.

Saw that on the news last night. Comment to my wife, "The ID seems a bit like a light switch" .....flip-flop....flip-flop.....

[duncan drennan]

The M&G is carrying the details of the ID switch. From the DA's response it sounds like the ID's decision was made for good reasons.

He said the ID had heeded the call by its members and the city as a whole to put an unequivocal end to the instability in local politics in the city in recent years.
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She (Zille) commended the ID for choosing "stability over positions", as the ID will occupy only three positions -- the deputy mayorship, one mayoral committee seat and one sub-committee seat.

Read the full article, "ID joins Cape Town coalition" on the M&G

Now let's move forward...

[Dave A]

It was a pretty shrewed move by the ID for sure. Probably pretty healthy all round.

There will be a reasonable level of continuity. It will bolster the ID's position as being Independent of Big Brother. And Cape Town can still show that the ANC is not the only option for improvement of the lot of the general populace.

If any of the smaller, would-be contenders want to challenge the top dog one day, the smaller parties are going to have to work together for a while.