By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal have signed a pact to improve service delivery in hung municipalities.
The agreement follows the IFP and DA’s cooperation in recent by-elections to win wards from the African National Congress (ANC).
The service delivery pact looks to build on a co-operation agreement the two parties 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.
According to the IFP and DA, they both share a strong commitment to constitutionalism, the rule of law and service delivery improvement. The parties also govern in various local municipalities across the country and are the only two of three parties that have governed a province in South Africa.
The parties have accused the ANC of “wrecking local government across KZN”, saying it is up to them to restore faith and trust in the political process, with the ultimate aim of unseating the ANC from power.
“That is why we believe we are able to come together and put the interests of citizens first,” the IFP and DA said in a joint statement.
“This shared agreement is a major turning point in the politics of our province and will bring much-needed stability to a number of municipalities where the IFP and DA work together.”
The service delivery pact between the IFP and DA comes after the DA brought opposition parties together at the national level to form a “moonshot coalition” aimed at unseating the ANC in next year’s national and provincial elections.
Leaders of seven parties — the DA, IFP, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), ActionSA, the National Freedom Party (NFP), the United Independent Movement (UIM) and the Spectrum National Party (SNP) — will hold a national convention on 16 and 17 August to try and negotiate a pre-election agreement.