SOEs threaten to bankrupt SA, but Minister Gordhan is off to solve municipal problems
20 July 2020
The administrator appointed by the ANC Gauteng government to run the Tshwane Metro this morning announced that Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Public Enterprises, will be deployed to the City to “lead the district fight against the Covid-19 pandemic”.
This is in line with the government’s District Development Model, which involves the deployment of ministers and deputy ministers to municipalities across the country.
But what exactly these “political champions” are called to do, or what their terms of reference are, remains to be clarified by the President.
Will Minister Gordhan, for example, assume some of the powers of the province’s administrator in Tshwane, or will he just check up on the city’s Covid-19 response?
It is clear that Gauteng is floundering in its Covid-19 response, but it is unclear how Minister Gordhan, whose hands are full with SAA and other failing state-owned entities, will help this effort in Tshwane or anywhere else.
The administrator also refers to the Ward Based War Rooms that have apparently been established in Tshwane to fight the Covid pandemic.
Councillors in other municipalities have also been informed of these War Rooms, and that they will report to District Command Councils.
But there is nothing either in national legislation or Covid-19 regulations that even refer to Ward Based War Rooms, let alone outline their powers and functions in relation to elected municipal councils and councillors.
Since a secret document leaked from the Department of Cooperative Governance two weeks ago, the DA has raised concerns about what exactly the government intends to achieve under the guise of the District Model.
The document proposes that the District Model be repurposed to establish permanent Command Councils with executive powers. We await the President’s reply to parliamentary questions about this secret document.
The more obvious point is that in the thick of the fight against Covid-19, government surely has neither the time nor the resources for political experiments.
Each sphere of government must fulfil its obligations, and when they fail government must invoke either section 100 of the Constitution (for provinces) or section 139 (for municipalities).
As the Gauteng High Court has found: Tshwane is not a candidate for intervention within the provisions of the law.
But while the province ought to be concentrating its fire on fighting the Covid pandemic, it is instead fighting in the Supreme Court of Appeal to retain control over a city that it has proved unable to govern.
If Minister Gordhan wants to make a difference in his home city, he should persuade the Gauteng government to drop its appeal to this judgment, and allow Tshwane councillors to reconstitute the city’s government.
Issued by Cilliers Brink,DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs, 20 July 2020
