What levels of incompetence have been reported at local government? Good morning.

Morning, Africa.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

We have all maintained that municipalities must be run by professionals in all the facets, either the employment of or appointment of engineers to deal with issues of water and sanitation, finance managers who are experts, who are technically qualified and experienced in that area and also the other operations of municipalities so what is on the agenda that has been put forward in the white paper on local government is the whole issue of professionalization of local government not only for the administrative component but what is interesting is that this is also one of the requirements for office bearers your mayors the members of mayoral executive committees, the chairpersons of council committees, the speakers of municipalities.

In the white paper, what is proposed is that there should be minimum competencies possessed by these office bearers in terms of experience, skills, and qualifications.

So this is one of the measures that are outlined in the revised white paper.

How will this revision of the white paper help improve service delivery from local government?

But, but looking at this evidence, I-I'm asking myself whether we've sort of misunderstood what coalition politics actually look like.

Yes.

Uh, morning, uh, Clement and fellow, uh, panelists, and thanks for having me.

Yes.

So, uh, if one, uh, looks at the MISTRA Barometer report, I must say that, uh, it's a fascinating and insightful read, uh, because, uh, it provides us with empirical data that, uh, seeks to, uh, dispel the notion that coalition arrangements are dysfunctional or inherently dysfunctional.

And, uh, we have, of course, uh, observed a narrative, especially with the first cycle of, uh, the coalition arrangements that came into play as a result of the twenty-sixteen local government, uh, uh, elections outcomes, plus the twenty-twenty-one local government elections outcomes that, uh, suggested that, uh, coalition arrangements, uh, tend to impede the provision of basic services, for example, uh, manifesting through the whole issue of political instability.

But we have maintained consistently so, Clement That if we compare coalition arrangements, uh, with what we call majority-led or single party, uh, municipal councils, the data, uh, says that in fact the ones that are dominant and also majority-led tend to be the most dysfunctional and also chaotic.

And I wonder, h-have coalition politics created a situation then where these smaller parties have more power than their vote share?