President Cyril Ramaphosa said that those elected to councils should put the interests of people first and not their parties.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the jury was still out on whether coalition governments in over 60 hung municipalities would work or fail.
But he said that parties governing hung councils had to make it work.
Ramaphosa was responding to questions in the National Assembly on Thursday.
President Ramaphosa said that those elected to councils should put the interests of people first and not their parties.
He said that sometimes there would be instability in councils without a clear winner, but coalitions would ensure that parties hold each other accountable.
“There is that notion but at the same time there is also the view that in a coalition government your able to sort of sharpen each other’s wits and be able to ensure that corruption is reduced and the lack of capability is done away with and you are able to ensure that there is good service delivery, so the jury, as far as I am concerned, is still out.”
He said that the worst-case scenario for coalition-led councils would be disruptions in service delivery.
“For me, the worst would be when there are disruptions and instability,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said that he also personally called each elected metro mayor to congratulate them.