Missio politica on Coalition Governance: ‘better devils’ in SA Coalition Politics

Abstract

Missio Dei has both total salvation and the attainment of the all-encompassing kingdom of God as central objectives, meriting the participation of all sectors of human society. However, as the resulting circumstances of several African developing countries can attest, the unsustainably disruptive nature of Governments of National Unity (GNUs) or coalition governments contradicts such unifying divine mandate. Using South Africa's coalition politics, where the likelihood of forming coalition governments depends on who is the ‘‘better devil’’, this paper draws on the literature to make a strong argument against the coalition government model. Accordingly, using the framework of missio politica to test the mandate of democratic politics in fulfilling the objectives of missio Dei, it is argued that coalition government models are usually at odds with missio Dei or the mandated objectives thereof.