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Coalition governments in SA’s metro’s necessitates a reconceptualisation of the political-administrative interface

16 April 2025 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Kaleidoscope Studios

Ambrose du Plessis — Dr Ambrosé du Plessis, lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Management, at his graduation of the University of the Free State (UFS) April graduation ceremonies.

With coalition governments becoming more common in South Africa and proven to be unstable, a lecturer at the University of the Free State (UFS) devised an alternative contextual coalition-led framework towards a functioning political-administrative dichotomy. This instability adversely affects service delivery.

The framework was devised by Dr Ambrosé du Plessis, lecturer in the UFS Department of Public Administration and Management, as part of his PhD research and focused on the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. He hopes it can offer valuable lessons for the broader context of South Africa’s evolving political landscape, particularly in light of the 2024 national coalition-led Government of national Unity (GNU).

Dr Du Plessis graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy with specialisation in Public Administration and management at the UFS April graduation ceremonies. Prof Liezel Lues, Professor of Public Administration and Management, in the Department of Public Administration and Management, was his supervisor.

Dr Du Plessis is part of the newest cohort of the Emerging Scholar Accelerator (ESAP) mentoring programme for mostly lecturers who are less than five years post-PhD. This group falls within the Transformation of the Professoriate Mentoring Programme which aims to grow a critical mass of excellent emerging scholars at the university who are equipped to assume senior academic and research positions.

Political-administrative dichotomy

With his thesis titled ‘The Political-Administrative Dichotomy in coalition-led metropolitan municipalities: A South African Perspective’, he focuses on the interface between politics and administration. Says Dr Du Plessis: “The political-administrative dichotomy discourse is unable to account for coalition politics in most of South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities. More importantly, political and administrative instability has become common in most of South Africa’s coalition-led metropolitan municipalities.

“What makes my research particularly interesting is that it transcends Public Administration by incorporating contributions from Political Science through critical discourse analysis. I also conducted interviews with political office-bearers, the South African Local Government Association in Gauteng province, as well as subject experts – both national and international – in public administration, political science, and constitutionalism, to uncover deeper nuances relating to local lived experiences and international perspectives,” says Dr Du Plessis.

According to him, the increasing prevalence of coalition-led governments in South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities necessitates a reconceptualisation of the political-administrative interface. Traditional interpretations of the political-administrative dichotomy have proved inadequate in explaining the multifaceted and dynamic interactions characteristic of contemporary coalition governance. This study responds to that gap by proposing a nuanced, context-sensitive, and theoretically enriched framework that better reflects the realities of coalition-led metropolitan municipal governance in the South African context.

The findings of the research

“Building on comparative and critical discourse analyses, this research advances a polychotomous framework – one that transcends mono-theoretical and discipline-bound approaches by integrating insights from Public Administration and Political Science. The framework acknowledges the existence of both formal and informal political-administrative relationships and interrogates how these configurations influence governance outcomes in coalition-led municipalities, with specific reference to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Metropolitan Municipality.

“The findings underscore the limitations of classical dichotomy theory, particularly in accounting for the intersectionality between coalition politics and the institutional architecture of local government. In contrast to the dichotomy discourse, which narrowly focuses on political principals and administrative office-bearers, this research situates the interface within a broader institutional and societal matrix that includes political parties, non-state actors, and citizen constituencies.”

Dr Du Plessis say although this study was confined to local government and the CoJ, he believes it makes a meaningful knowledge contribution with real-world impact, paving the way for continued exploration and innovation in both research and practice concerning the political-administrative interface in coalition-led metropolitan municipalities. “More importantly, I hope it sparks critical reflection on the central nervous system of government and governance in South Africa, highlighting the urgent need to reconfigure not only political and administrative arrangements, but also the broader governance frameworks required to manage coalition politics effectively.”

PhD journey

Obtaining his PhD, Dr Du Plessis says, is extremely emotional as he hopes to have inspired the broader family and future generations of students. It is both a liberating and proud moment for him for which he is deeply grateful and extremely overjoyed. This is not only the achievement of a personal and academic goal, but also the fulfilment of a journey filled with perseverance, growth, and purpose.

Like most PhDs, his journey was characterised by challenges that not only tested his intellectual ability but also his drive to succeed. There were moments of “profound loneliness”, self-doubt and even an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. He had to deal with mental health challenges and experienced the well-known imposter syndrome. However, the support from his wife, Natasha, and Prof Lues, as well as colleagues like Dr Marevé Biljohn, Head of the Department of Public Administration and Management, the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences PhD support group under the leadership of Prof Tina Kotze and Mrs Igna du Plooy and the REAP programme under the leadership of Dr Henriette van der Berg and Dr Karen Booysen, were essential in completing his PhD. They guided him through the academic and emotional trials of this journey with unwavering compassion.

News Archive

Premiere of the documentary on King Moshoeshoe - Address by the Rector

2004-10-14

Address by the rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, prof Frederick Fourie, at the premiere of the documentary on King Moshoeshoe, Wednesday 13 October 2004

It is indeed a privilege to welcome you at this key event in the Centenary celebrations of the University of the Free State.

We are simultaneously celebrating 100 years of scholarship with 10 years of democracy

Today is a very important day with great significance for the University. This Centenary is not merely a celebration of an institution of a certain age. It is a key event in this particular phase of our history, in our transformation as an institution of higher learning, in taking the creation of a high-quality, equitable, non-racial, non-sexist, multicultural and multilingual university seriously.

This is about building something new out of the old, of creating new institutional cultures and values from diverse traditions.

It is about learning together - as an higher education institution - about who we are where we come from – to decide where we are going.

It is about merging the age-old tradition of the university, of the academic gown, with the Basotho blanket, the symbol of community engagement.

Then why is it important that we remember Moshoeshoe, where does he fit into our history?

In the Free State province, where large numbers of Basotho and Afrikaners (and others) now live together, a new post-apartheid society is being built in the 21st century.

The challenge is similar to that faced by Moshoeshoe 150 years ago. As you will see tonight, he did a remarkable thing in forging a new nation out of a fragmented society. He also created a remarkable spirit of reconciliation and a remarkable style of leadership.

Not all people in South Africa know the history of Moshoeshoe. Many Basotho – but not all – are well versed in the history of Moshoeshoe, and his name is honoured in many a street, town and township. Many white people know very little of him, or have a very constrained or even biased view of his role and legacy. In Africa and the world, he his much less known than, for instance, Shaka. (In Lesotho, obviously, he is widely recognised and praised.)

We already benefit from his legacy: the people of the Free State share a tradition of moderation and reconciliation rather than one of aggression and domination.

With Moshoeshoe, together with Afrikaner leaders and reconciliators such as President MT Steyn and Christiaan de Wet, we have much to be thankful for.

Our challenge is take this legacy further: to forge a new society in which different cultural, language and racial groups – Basotho, Afrikaners and others – will all feel truly at home.

Bit by bit, on school grounds, on university campuses, in each town and city, people must shape the values and principles that will mould this new non-racial, multicultural and multilingual society.

A shared sense of history, shared stories and shared heroes are important elements in such a process.

Through this documentary film about King Moshoeshoe, the UFS commits itself to developing a shared appreciation of the history of this country and to the establishment of the Free State Province as a model of reconciliation and nation-building.

Moshoeshoe is also a strong common element, and binding factor, in the relationship between South Africa / the Free State, and its neighbour, Lesotho.

For the University of the Free State this also is an integral part of real transformation – of creating a new unity amidst our diversity.

Transformation has so many aspects: whilst the composition of our student and staff populations have been changing, many other things change at the same time: new curricula, new research, new community service learning projects.

In also includes creation of new values, new (shared) histories, new (shared) heroes.

It includes the incorporation of the Qwaqwa campus, which serves a region where so many of the children of Moshoeshoe live, including her majesty Queen Mopeli.

We see in Moshoeshoe a model of African leadership – of reconciliation and nation-building – that can have a significant impact in South Africa and Africa as a whole.

We also find in the legacy of King Moshoeshoe the possibility of an “founding philosophy”, or “defining philosophy”, for the African renaissance.

To develop this philosophy, we must gain a deeper understanding of what really happened there, of his role, of his leadership.

Therefore the University of the Free State will encourage and support further research into the history, politics and sociology of the Moshoeshoe period, including his leadership style.

We hope to do this in partnership with National University of Lesotho.

The Moshoeshoe documentary is one element of a long-term project of the UFS. The other elements of the project that we are investigating are possible PhD-level research; a possible annual Moshoeshoe memorial lecture on African leadership; and then possible schools projects and other ways and symbols of honouring him.

It is my sincere wish that all communities of the Free State and of South Africa will be able to identify with the central themes of this documentary, and develop a shared appreciation for leaders such as King Moshoeshoe and the legacy of peace, reconciliation and nation-building that they have left us.

Prof. Frederick Fourie
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of the Free State
13 October 2004.

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