Tshwane mayor Randall Williams’ attempted power grab out of order, no matter how you look at it

Tshwane mayor Randall Williams’ outrageous proposal that a single official can make an executive decision as to who gets the tender to convert two electricity power stations for R26 billion just shows how “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Parties across the political spectrum expressed shock and anger at the Democratic Alliance’s mayor’s attempt to tie the city down to a 30-year deal without having gone through a tendering process. No surprises there, everyone should be shocked and outraged but the blanket condemnation of Williams must not turn into a total rejection of cities doing things for themselves.

The most aggrieved party at Williams’ actions was the ANC, which has previously governed the metro. The attempted power grab by the mayor has opened the door to the former rulers of the municipality to paint themselves as the only voice of the poor in the metro, something which they did not do much about when the electorate had given them a chance from 1994 until 2016.

It is important to separate the mayor’s attempt at corruption from the intended outcome of the city being in charge of its own power generation. No money needs to have greased hands for Williams’ attempted power grab to be characterised as corruption.

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The attempt to circumvent all manner of finance legislation put in place to prevent exactly what he was attempting is corruption. Its results would be corruption and, most importantly, it would have put in place a project whose very genesis would be corrupt and the suggested Australian company that would not have gone through a tendering process would know that the lucrative deal they got is fatally corrupt – and to keep it in place they would have to grease hands at some point.

The mayor must have known that but still wanted to push through with the deal, which would lead to the question that must be asked: why risk a shaky coalition and even his shaky mayoral seat to try and push the deal through? What’s in it for him or his party?

Tshwane metro trying to get 800 megawatts independently and even creating 35 000 jobs in the process is a noble thing, that is why the baby must not be thrown out with the bathwater here.

The exploration process for implementing the idea must continue. In fact, strong municipalities that can ensure that reliance on centralised state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as Eskom must be encouraged.

The only thing is that checks and balances must be put in place to ensure that people like Williams do not introduce a version of state capture in what they believe are their own little fiefdoms.

The primary reason for centralising power when the national ruling party first ascended to power was that it was necessary for national government to always have a handle on how poverty is being fought back across all of South Africa, not just in some parts.

The dangers of these huge SOEs, with budgets equivalent to those of a little country, are they become very attractive to corrupt individuals and corporations, as was evidenced by state capture. Having learnt the bitter lesson from this, it is perhaps time to explore a different model, where the power lies with the structures that are actually delivering services to the people.

The checks and balances needed must obviously include a strong political opposition that will ensure that municipalities prioritise service delivery in areas inhabited by the poor just as much they do for privileged residential areas.

The country can spend another 30 years rebuilding these monolithic SOEs, or spend time and money wisely on local solutions that work.