No Legal Deadline for SA Municipal Coalition Deals

South Africans waiting to see whether their new municipal councils can function may be reassured by one clear fact: there is no 14-day deadline for political parties to conclude coalition agreements after Wednesday’s local government elections. Nor is there any legal requirement for parties to form coalitions at all. What the law does demand is simpler and more procedural. Newly elected councils must hold their first meeting within 14 days of being declared elected, and it is this deadline, applying to the council meeting rather than to any negotiation between parties, that has caused confusion.

For residents, the practical stakes lie in how their mayors are chosen. With official results expected tomorrow evening, the newly elected councils will convene within that window. At the first meeting, councillors elect a speaker and can proceed to elect a mayor. If more than one candidate is nominated, the vote is by secret ballot. A quorum applies: more than half of all councillors must be present before a vote can take place, meaning at least 51 councillors in a 100-seat council.

Yet the outcome of that vote does not necessarily reflect the will of a council majority. A mayor needs only a majority of votes cast, not the support of a majority of all councillors. If 60 councillors attend and all cast valid votes, a candidate can win with 31 votes in a 100-seat council. Where no candidate achieves a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voting continues.

This flexibility matters for the public because it means a mayor can be elected without any formal coalition agreement between parties. Parties may back a mayoral candidate without agreeing to govern together, abstain from voting, or reach informal arrangements. Once in office, an executive mayor appoints a mayoral committee that functions much like a municipal cabinet.

The catch for citizens is that electing a mayor and running a municipality are two different things. A municipal budget requires the support of a majority of all councillors, at least 51 votes in a 100-seat council. A mayor elected on a narrower base could therefore struggle to pass a budget without securing additional support. Mayors can also be removed later through votes of no confidence, allowing municipal governments to change without another election.

Nor does the party that wins the most votes hold any first opportunity to form a government. All parties stand on the same legal footing when councillors meet to elect municipal leaders.

The essential point, then, is one of public clarity. There is no 14-day deadline to conclude coalition negotiations, no requirement for a formal coalition agreement, and no automatic right for the largest party to govern. The 14-day deadline simply requires the newly elected council to meet. Whether those councils can then pass budgets and keep mayors in office is the question residents will watch in the weeks ahead.