Join the Conversation on Current Affairs at the Cool Politics Café This October

As South Africa continues to navigate an uncertain political landscape, the Cool Politics Café – presented by the Democracy Works Foundation (DWF) – provides an open and interactive platform for curious and political minds to examine the country’s state of affairs, leaving participants more informed and socio-politically aware.

Following its Youth Month edition in June 2026, the Cool Politics Café returns on Thursday, 1 October 2026 under the theme “Coalition Politics: Reflecting on South Africa’s Evolving Political Landscape”.

Cool Politics Café | What's on in Joburg

Understanding coalition politics

This edition of the Cool Politics Café seeks to examine how coalition governments can work better in strengthening democratic accountability, improving service delivery and encouraging collaborative leadership while navigating political differences and, crucially, strengthening national social cohesion.

This comes at a particularly important moment for the nation, with local government elections looming. The session will focus on facilitating a constructive multi-stakeholder dialogue on strengthening coalition governance in South Africa, drawing on lessons from local government experience to identify practical principles and reforms that can promote stable, accountable, transparent and service-delivery-oriented coalitions.

What’s on the Cool Politics Café programme

The Cool Politics Café programme will commence as follows:

4.30pm for 5pm – Arrival and refreshments
5pm – Programme begins with musical piece (saxophonist)
5pm to 7pm – Dialogue and podcast recording (which will be available for those who are unable to make th in-person session)
7pm to 8pm – Programme ends with food and refreshments

Programme objectives

The Cool Politics Café programme aims to:

promote informed public dialogue and constructive engagement between political leaders, academics, civil society and young people on coalition governance and collaborative and consensus-based leadership;
explore lessons emerging from coalition governments in South Africa;
and explore potential avenues and opportunities to strengthen coalitions that can work for the benefit of the country.

Discussion themes

The programme includes discussions around:

the SA governance set-up and institutional context underpinning the necessity for coalition governance;
the key drivers of coalition instability, leadership and institutional challenges;
the impact of coalition politics on governance, citizens, society and SA’s democracy and;
viable, responsible and responsive coalitions and institutional safeguards for greater coalition stability.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Ms Bonolo Makgale and features speakers Prof Susan Booysen, a political scientist, author and analyst of South African politics; Dr Sithembile Mbete, lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria; and Lindiwe Mazibuke, a writer, activist and former politician.

Following the discussion will be an interactive audience question-and answer session, encouraging participation from political leaders, students, civil society organisations and members of the public.

What participants leave with

By the end of the discussion, participants will hopefully be equipped with:

a greater awareness of coalition governance and its challenges in the South African context;
improved understanding of the opportunities for strengthening responsible and responsive leadership for coalition politics;
the ability to identify priority institutional and political reforms required to strengthen coalition governance and;
practical recommendations for strengthening collaborative political leadership.