COALITION BILL: PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS TIMELINE UNPACKED

COALITION BILL: PARLIAMENTARY PROCESS TIMELINE UNPACKED

• 27 August 2026
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs’ Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill – popularly known as the ‘Coalition’ Bill – is unlikely to be passed by Parliament in time to be enacted and operationalised before the 4 November 2026 elections.

This became clear during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Committee, when members received briefings on the Bill itself, their associated constitutionally enshrined procedural obligations, related timelines, and options for speeding up what is generally understood to be at least a two-year process.

According to parliamentary legal advisor Charmaine van der Merve, conducting robust public consultations could present the greatest challenge should the committees concerned attempt to fast-track the Bill’s passage through Parliament.

This is especially noting that:

• the Bill’s tagging mechanism process has not yet been concluded
• the National Assembly committee may not open the Bill for written submissions and oral representations until the Bill has been tagged
• stakeholders are entitled to a six-to-eight-week window in which to prepare submissions
• further amendments may be necessary, requiring opportunities for additional stakeholder input
• the Bill is expected to be tagged as Constitution section 76 legislation affecting the provinces, which means that:
  • once adopted by the National Assembly committee and passed by the House, the Bill must then be subjected to an NCOP committee process among other things requiring:
    • another opportunity for stakeholders to make written submissions and oral representations, and
    • each provincial legislature to facilitate comprehensive public consultations in the form of hearings held at locations easily accessible to ordinary South Africans
  • informed by input received, some provincial legislatures may propose further amendments, and that
  • should those proposals be adopted by the NCOP committee and endorsed by the House, they will then need to be accepted by the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance MP George Michalakis has indicated, in writing, that he is willing to put his own Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill ‘on hold pending adoption of the departmental Bill’ – at which point he will decide whether to withdraw it. Michalakis tabled his Bill in February 2025.

As SA Legal Academy reported at the time, in April 2025 the National Assembly committee asked Michalakis to ‘engage with’ Co-operative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa with the aim of aligning the contents of his Bill with proposals in the departmental Bill, which was then being revised to reflect input received during public consultations begun in May 2024.

The thinking behind and overarching objectives of the departmental Bill were unpacked during the National Assembly committee meeting but were not discussed. Neither was there any discussion on the implications of input from Van der Merwe.

• departmental Bill
• DA Bill
• Van der Merwe’s presentation (large sections of which were prepared for a different meeting)
• Michalakis’ letter
• departmental presentation
• April 2025 SA Legal Academy report

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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