Farrel, the thing about coalitions is that they tend to survive despite apparent internal contraditions. There are good reasons for that.
The political pressure on any participating party to deliver its mandate is extremely strong. This propels parties to stick to the arrangements and promises they make; particularly party leaders, who need to justify themselves not only to the electorate but to their party-political supporters. I’d call this the coalition’s ‘political mandate’.
This by no means reduces the importance of the ‘principle mandate’ that each party must defend. For the AMP, this seems to include the idea that homosexuality is sinful. The response that develops in the coalition derives from the parties’ shared political mandate, and from their understanding of one anothers’ principle mandate.
I’d imagine that the AMP will refuse to endorse projects promoting pink tourism in Cape Town. Well, that may be the cost of allowing this government to survive. However, the DA will certainly not support any erosion of existing gay rights in Cape Town. This is a concession we may expect to make, but we will only go so far.
On the other hand, we expect concessions in return: we shall persuade our colleagues of other policies we have in mind, to do with rationalisation of rates and services, fire protection, power services and so on. You can, after all, run a city pretty well without having a dispute about gay rights.
The most important vote in the coalition has already passed: the vote to create it in the first place. That vote endorsed not only the mayor, but also signed the parties into a working arrangement. This is the fundamental difference between a democratic coalition and the ANC’s tri-partite alliance. A split in the city coalition merely means the end of the government, and the parties can then pick up the pieces afterwards. A split in the ANC’s alliance functionally means the end of the party; much more catastrophic; hence the safe conclusion is that a coalition government is fundamentally more democratic than the ANC’s alliance government.
In the article in your update: Helen’s very good at symbols. The photo-within-the-photo is a message, sent by Helen to the ANC. ‘I plan to run the city with your cooperation. I fully acknowledge your role as national and provincial government. It’s your job to acknowledge my role as city mayor.’
And I tell you what else: you’re never going to get that kind of governance agreement out of any party on its own, particularly not the ANC. Coalitions are a GOOD THING. Get used to them, Farrel, there are only going to be more of them in the future.
