The plurality, activity, and growth of political parties in a democracy signals progressive development for the system’s existence and sustainability. Within a multiparty democratic system such as that of South Africa, regardless of their size, political parties play a critical role of stabilising the system in their various endeavours that ensure that the majority party is held accountable and fulfils its constitutional mandate. In the recent past smaller parties in particular have grown to be formidable and indispensable deal-breakers and arbiters from local councils to the National Assembly. This lynchpin role of small parties has been witnessed in the formation of coalitions and voting blocs accordingly inducing vitality to the country’s fledgling and growing democracy. It is yet to be determined however whether the future is going to sustain these patterns which seem to point towards the ubiquity of coalitions and further importance of small parties