Can Joburg coalitions fix the city, or break it?

The City of Gold has been governed by coalitions for the past decade, and it doesn’t look as if that’s going to change come November. We unpack what parties can do better to make coalitions work for the voters they elect.

South Africa’s national coalition has mostly kept the wheels on, if we politely ignore the 2025 budget drama, when a VAT fight almost turned the government of national unity into the group project from hell. But at the local government level? It’s here that coalitions have really been testing our blood pressure.

Nowhere illustrates this better than Johannesburg. The City of Johannesburg has been a hung council since 2016, when the ANC fell below 50% in the metro, receiving about 44% of the vote. Since then, Joburg has become the poster child for political musical chairs, with at least nine mayors since 2016. Very democratic, very exhausting.

So, with local government elections set for 4 November 2026, should voters run screaming from coalitions? Not necessarily.

In an interview with /explain/, Rise Mzansi’s Johannesburg mayoral candidate, Lukhona Mnguni, said he would be satisfied if his party won 15 seats. Such a result would almost certainly still leave Joburg without an outright majority. DA mayoral candidate Helen Zille, meanwhile, has argued that voting for smaller parties risks dragging the city back into unstable coalition politics. Her pitch is simple: give one party 50% plus one and end the circus.

Julia Fish, managing director of civic group JoburgCAN, says Joburgers’ suspicion of coalitions makes sense. Residents have watched parties trade support for positions while services splutter, leadership changes, and accountability disappears into the same mysterious place as working traffic lights.

“For voters living with unreliable services and shaky administration, a straightforward 50+1 majority for a single party can seem like the only route to clarity, speed, and accountability,” Fish says.

But, and this is a big but, Fish said coalitions are not the problem. Bad coalitions are.

Joburg’s real issue has been opaque deals, weak agreements, and few consequences when parties break ranks. Coalitions can work, Fish argues, if parties sign clear, public, and binding agreements that spell out who they will govern with, what they will do, and what happens if they misbehave.

That matters because fragmented voting is not going away. Fish says voters should stop hoping for one magical majority and start demanding disciplined coalitions instead. That means asking parties before election day: Who will you work with? Who will you not work with? What deal will you sign? And will there be consequences if you break it?

The proposed Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, also known as the Coalitions Bill, could also change the game. It includes binding coalition agreements and a 1% threshold for parties to win council seats. In plain English: tiny parties may find it harder to become kingmakers.

Ground Work Collective founder and chief executive, Mbali Ntuli, put it plainly: coalitions have not had a great local track record, but outright majorities have not exactly covered themselves in glory either.

Her advice? Treat your vote like your money or your health: read up, ask questions, and do not get distracted by political theatre.

Joburg doesn’t need another mayoral merry-go-round. It needs voters who know exactly what they are agreeing to before the coalition deal is printed.

Prashalan Govender is a journalist who was shortlisted for the Vodacom Young Journalist of the Year Award twice. He is focused on reporting the stories that shape everyday life in South Africa, with a particular interest in politics, economics, and social issues.