The folllowing is a reply to an article by Marianne Merten that appeared on Daily Maverick on Wednesday 8 July (DA’s cheap political points over 11-week-old draft municipalities’ recovery plan cloud real, important issues).
At the time this reply by Cilliers Brink MP was sent to Politicsweb, Daily Maverick was still considering whether to publish it.
If you’re not worried about an ANC power grab, you’re not paying attention
9 July 2020
On Monday the Democratic Alliance (DA) raised alarm about what appears to be a government proposal to repurpose the District Development Model as a new kind of Command Council; a mechanism for centralised policy making, decision making, and planning.
Unlike the Command Councils that are meant to help the government fight the Covid-19 pandemic, this new system wouldn’t be limited to managing disasters, and wouldn’t expire at the end of the lockdown. All this came from a document under the name of Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, marked “top secret”.