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The system of cooperative governance in the democratic South African dispensation was constitutionally mandated and institutionalised to improve intergovernmental relations that can streamline effective performance, implementation, and monitoring of government programmes to improve service delivery for citizens. However, despite numerous efforts and pleas by the Auditor-General of South Africa to responsible oversight structures like provincial governments and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to curb financial malfeasance, corruption and lack of adequate and proper financial management skills, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears thus undermining cooperative and good governance mechanisms and systems. A practice of cadre deployment rather than meritocracy has become inherent when appointing and selecting local government officials and strategic thinkers who can be tasked to conceptualise new ideas of governance that can be associated with accountability and other good governance measures. The main question that this paper seeks to investigate is what causes poor governance and management performance in local municipalities under the African National Congress? The six themes generated from the analysis of literature reviews and strategic documents are meritocracy versus cadre deployment, strategic collaboration, human capital development, performance efficiency and efficacy, corruption and nepotism, and capital flight. Thus, to ensure best practices, parliamentary oversight structures and responsible departments, like the National Treasury, should build checks and balances in their institutional mechanisms that strive to streamline good cooperative governance practices and accountability measures as per constitutional prescripts to ensure that basic services are effectively and sufficiently rendered across cooperative governance spheres. Furthermore, appropriate oversight measures driven by political will from political superiors in the governing party should be adopted, inculcated, and institutionalised in the cooperative governance system of South Africa to punish serial offenders amongst accounting officers in local municipalities. This study is significant because it outlines effective oversight mechanisms that streamline good governance within the cooperative governance framework in the developing world with specific reference to South Africa.

Ubiquitous political interference, especially from the governing African National Congress through cadre deployment practice of patronage, has undermined strategic and operational efficacy within state-owned entities such as ESKOM, contributing to loadshedding due to the unavailability of electricity for many hours daily. A critical analysis is undertaken through desktop literature review and document analysis to juxtapose institutional performance between ESKOM as a non-performing state-owned entity and TELKOM as a performing state entity in meeting performance objectives and strategic goals to contribute to the National Development Plan of creating an economically viable and capable state in South Africa. The study aims to contribute to deepening debates and public discourse about strengthening performance efficacy within public sector institutions and entities and towards achieving the strategic goals of the National Development Plan of building a capable and capacitated South African developmental state.

The relevance of this scientific problem is that there are numerous calls and arguments from civil society organisations, labour unions, progressive economists, and policy experts to the South African government regarding the introduction of basic income grant. This will help protect the unemployed from poverty and stimulate economic growth. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem of improving the quality of life of the poor indicates that the government (led by the African National Congress) since 1994 implemented a social security policy (the child support grant for women). At the same time, the government's position regarding the feasibility of introducing of basic income grant as a tool for economic stimulation has changed. The African National Congress disagrees with the need for basic income grant as a tool for poverty alleviation and economic growth. The main purpose of the research is the analysis of the prerequisites for the change in the position of the African National Congress regarding the feasibility of introducing basic income grant: basic income grant is a tool for stimulating economic growth and overcoming poverty for most of the disadvantaged population of South Africa, or a means for the government to preserve its positions, which are weakening among the South African electorate. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis, which proved that basic income grant will contribute to the increase of the national tax base as those not earning an income can start buying and selling goods and be taxed. At the same time, at the initial stage, the introduction of basic income grant will lead to an increase in the level of income taxation of the employed population. Analytical methods of scientific literature analysis became the methodical tools of the conducted research. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the introduction of basic income grant could stimulate the economy by ensuring that the unemployed become economic participants by having disposable cash to spend and start business activities.

The cooperative governance model espoused in the democratic South African Constitution requires the three spheres of the local, provincial and national governments to coordinate their service delivery strategies and institutional plans to strengthen efficiency, coherence and accountability toward improving performance efficacy and the quality of citizens’ life. However, political and ideological contestations in a situation where different political parties are in power at national, provincial and local government levels result in the lack of alignment between the Integrated Development Plan and the National Development Plan, which denies citizens access to good quality services. This study reviewed various literature sources, governance policies and strategies to analyse whether the Integrated Development Plan of the City of Tshwane Metro Council under the governance of the multi-party coalition led by the Democratic Alliance can align with the National Development Plan, which is a creation of the African National Congress-led national government. A Qualitative approach informed the study, guided by a literature review to collate data and arrive at findings. The findings revealed a lack of alignment between the Integrated Development Plan of the City of Tshwane and the National Development Plan during the Democratic Alliance’s control, which results in a disjointed approach to planning; poor implementation of local government services; and slow social-economic development that hamper the improvement of the quality of lives of citizens in Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, perpetuating societal inequalities. It is recommended that institutional and political leaders in the three spheres of government in South Africa, and the citizenry, should put ‘all hands on deck’ and work together for the betterment of the country, despite differences in political strategies and policy approaches.

Coalition governance in South Africa is adjudged as an opportunity for nation-building and social compact, which intends to jettison the apartheid legacy of racial and social separation. Coalition governance in South Africa quintessentially demonstrates a maturing nation-building project whereby political parties embrace a cohesive spirit for democratic governance and citizenship representation. However, the lack of consensus about a developmental posture to drive nation-building in South Africa put different political parties on antithetical dissimulations that undermine effective coalition governance in both national and local governmental spheres. An era of dominant party hegemony is approaching its final demise, which challenges political parties to build workable and collaborative consensus toward leading South Africa out of its current developmental stagnation. The study examines the challenges and opportunities of coalition governance in South Africa. The objective of the paper is to understand how coalition building can be a leverage for Nation building in the context of South African political structure. A qualitative study is undertaken by analyzing strategic and policy documents of political parties and journal articles to examine challenges and opportunities for coalition governance in South Africa. The thematic content analysis examines emerging patterns from primary and secondary documentary sources to generate relevant themes that influence and guide conceptualization, challenges, and opportunities for coalition governance in South Africa. Findings revealed that a major challenge for coalition governance in South Africa is political brinkmanship by political parties who negotiate in bad faith, demanding more concessions than votes garnered from election results, which demonstrates political immaturity. However, a positive aspect of coalition governance might be for parties to formalize binding coalition agreements that can serve as conflict management mechanisms that can compel parties to demonstrate reciprocal accountability during governance.