Issued by Ismail Joosub on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation on 18/11/2025

South Africa has formally entered its coalition era. The Foundation’s latest assessment, Critical Questions on South Africa’s Elections, Coalitions and Local Governance (with a view to 2026), traces the arc from the 2016 municipal breakthroughs, through the 2021 wave of 66 hung councils, to the 2024 national and provincial results that produced the country’s first hung Parliament. The picture is of a maturing democracy grappling with fragmentation, declining participation – especially among young South Africans – and uneven governance capacity.

The report finds that turnout in 2024 hovered at roughly 58-59% of registered voters (around 40-41% of the voting-age population), while the 2021 local elections fell to 45,9%, the lowest since 1994. Youth under-registration and non-participation remain the sharpest threats to democratic legitimacy. Meanwhile, service delivery has deteriorated across many municipalities. According to the Auditor-General’s 2022/23 outcomes, only 13% (34 of 257) municipalities attained clean audits, with persistent failures in revenue management, procurement, maintenance and consequence management.

Coalition governance is no longer an exception, but a norm that can succeed or fail depending on rules and leadership. Where coalitions have been disciplined, transparent and limited in partners – underpinned by clear written agreements, administrative continuity and a delivery-first programme – stability and clean audits have followed. Where they have been opaque, over-fragmented and driven by brinkmanship, they have collapsed into revolving-door executives and paralysed administrations. The lesson is clear: coalitions don’t fail by nature; they fail without rules, trust and enforceability.

Anchoring the analysis in constitutional principle, the report argues that renewal must start where the Constitution begins: the founding values of accountability, responsiveness and openness (s 1), the state’s duty to respect, protect, promote and fulfil rights (s 7(2)), the objects of local government (s 152) and the basic values and principles of public administration (s 195). Practical reforms are set out to stabilise politics and professionalise administrations ahead of the 2026 local elections.

“This assessment is a call to move from ideology to competence,” said Ismail Joosub, Manager of Constitutional Advancement at the FW de Klerk Foundation. “Turnout is falling, coalitions are rising and service failure is eroding dignity. The Constitution already gives us the compass: accountability, responsiveness and openness. If we translate those values into a culture of ethical leadership and effective governance, delivery will follow.”

“South Africans are not rejecting democracy – they are rejecting dysfunctional practice,” added Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation. “Before 2026, we must strengthen public leadership, protect professional officials and demonstrate visible wins – fixing water systems, maintaining roads, lighting streets. That is how we rebuild trust and give young people a reason to participate.”

South Africa’s renewal will not come from slogans. It will come from competence anchored in constitutional practice and from a renewed commitment to make governance work for every community.

Click here to view the full assessment: Critical Questions on South Africa’s Elections, Coalitions and Local Governance (with a view to 2026).