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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

A new dawn for student governance

2011-09-02

Our SRC presidents: Richard Chemaly (Bloemfontein Campus) and Bongani Ncgaca (Qwaqwa Campus)
Photo: Hannes Pieterse

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The successful and peaceful completion of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Student Representative (SRC) elections 2011 herals a new dawn for student governance with the announcement of the results today (1 September 2011).

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 25 August 2011, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 29 and 30 August 2011.

“A new dawn heralds a new day when Richard Chemaly, the son of Lebanese immigrants becomes President of an SRC, as elected by students from all racial backgrounds and from across the student body at large. A new day has arrived when candidates could have won voter support across racial lines; a new day is here when all SRC members are now recognised leaders on the basis of academic accountability,” the Dean of Student Affairs, Mr Rudi Buys, says.

A new dawn has arrived; firstly, insofar as student elections for the choice of student leaders at the UFS now proceed according to a non-racial and a non-party political basis.

Not only did the SRC elections at both the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses achieve its required quorum, with 31% (4 729 votes) and 50% (2 112 votes) voter turnout, respectively, but the SRC elected by students at the Bloemfontein Campus is 55% black and 45% white, and 60% female and 40% male. The numbers of votes gained by successful candidates also indicate that voters from all racial backgrounds have voted for their candidates of choice.

Secondly, a new dawn has arrived insofar as student governance occupied by only some student groups claiming to speak on behalf of all students has made way for direct voting for candidates by the broad student body and the threefold increase of student governance structures on campus.

Not only did all students at our Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses (a total of 15 173 and 4 257, respectively) have the opportunity to participate in voting directly, but nine additional Student Councils were established at our Bloemfontein Campus that each holds an ex officio seat on the SRC and allows for student governance in all the major student sectors of the student body, such as for postgraduate students, international students and all categories of student associations.

The various councils now established include the Student Academic Affairs Council, the Student Associations Council, the Postgraduate Student Council, the International Student Council, the Student Media Council, the Residences Student Council, the Commuter Student Council and the Rag Community Service Fundraising and Service Councils. In addition, all faculties also introduced student representative structures at departmental and faculty level in 2011 to ensure student participation in faculty management and governance.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

Elective portfolios:
President: Mr Richard Chemaly
Vice-President: Mr Lefata David Maklein
Secretary: Ms Matshepo Ramokgadi
Treasurer: Mr Werner Pretorius
Arts & Culture: Ms Alta Grobelaar
Accessibility & Student Support: Mr William Clayton
First-generation Students: Ms Petre du Plessis
Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Biejanka Calitz
Sport: Mr Bonolo Thebe
Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Busisiwe Madikizela
Transformation: Ms Qaqamba Mhlauli

Ex officio portfolios:
Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Student Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa
Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Student Council: Mr Jean Vermaas
Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Campus Residences Student Council: Ms Mpho Mokaleng
City student Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Student Council: Ms Annemieke Plekker
Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Student Council: Ms Glancina Mokone
International Affairs & Ex officio: International Student Council: Mr Pitso Ramokoatsi
Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Student Media Council: Ms Nicole Heyns
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Ms Iselma Parker
RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Motheo Pooe

In the Qwaqwa elections, SASCO achieved 36,84% of the vote, with SADESMO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 29,73% and 18,56% and 12,74%, respectively .

Mr Bongani Ncgaca was elected as the President of the SRC at our Qwaqwa Campus, while the names of the SRC members at the campus will be announced on 7 September 2011.

The Central SRC will be established on 8 September 2011 by a joint sitting of the two SRCs.

The successful completion of the SRC elections at the Bloemfontein Campus follows a yearlong review process of student governance by a Broad Student Transformation Forum (BSTF) that consists of 59 delegations from student organisations and residences. The BSTF adopted independent candidacy for elective portfolios and additional student councils to provide ex officio seats on the SRC as the template for student governance, following the consideration of a series of benchmarking reports on student governance nationally and internationally.

The UFS Council adopted the new SRC Constitution, as drafted and submitted by the BSTF, on 3 June 2011.

Media Release
1 September 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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