Invisible man of SA politics

He is the invisible man, passing through public life virtually unnoticed despite his high office. He sparks no extremes of emotion, neither cheers nor jeers. Yet the most unremarkable man of South African politics is in one of the more admirable.

Premier Alan Winde’s Western Cape government was the first to experience the full might of the Covid-19 pandemic and, in marked contrast to the chaos and corruption that has characterised the response in the rest of SA, passed the test with flying colours.

Lest we forget, at one stage the ANC alliance was calling for urgent national government intervention to take over from the Western Cape its handling of the pandemic. The SA Communist Party described Winde’s administration as “Trump-oriented” and “disorganised” compared to the other provinces.

Fortunately, the wiser counsel of national Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize prevailed. But the most interesting aspect of Winde’s leadership is not the inconsiderable economic and social achievements of his government, which were mostly achieved by his predecessor, Helen Zille.

Rather, it’s the signs that he is spooking the ANC with displays of provincial independence. The markedly different path that the province has taken compared to the rest of the country is a constant thorn in the ANC flesh. What it really doesn’t want to allow to happen is for the province to start flexing its provincial powers in challenges to national government.

Winde has been calling on Mkhize and Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to meet to discuss urgently a “differentiated approach” on the part of the Western Cape, especially as regards the province’s important wine and tourism sectors. His point of leverage was the government’s promise in May that its management of the pandemic would be infinitely flexible. There would be different alert levels and regulations for different parts of the country.

Given that Ramaphosa has effectively conceded presidential veto powers to Dlamini-Zuma, a mother-knows-best anti-booze, anti-smoking authoritarian, this was never going to happen. That is, until last weekend. Taking advantage of the Western Cape’s steep drop in infections and lack of pressure on hospitals, Winde said the province would no longer docilely follow national regulations. Alcohol sales should be “allowed immediately”.

“The provincial government fully agrees that alcohol-related harm is a major problem … But we cannot view this in isolation of the other consequences a continued ban on the sale of alcohol is causing,” he said.

Winde’s tone could not be more different from the pugnacious approach of Zille. Just a quiet appeal to good sense and a speedy taking advantage of the government’s medical advisory committee’s as-yet-unexercised powers to recommend flexible alert levels.

Of course, the last thing Ramaphosa’s administration wants to see is the Western Cape unilaterally easing regulations. Not because of the possible health implications, but because it would benefit the DA with voters. That left Ramaphosa two options. First, to forbid the Western Cape from easing the regulations, which would have resulted in judicial appeals. Or, second, to allow a national relaxation of the rules that would pre-empt and hence take the sting out of the DA challenge.

So when you crack open that first (legal) bottle of fine Cape wine and draw deeply on that first (legal) cigar, raise a toast Alan Winde, an underestimated politician.

William Saunderson-Meyer.

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