DA could still make a comeback in Tshwane

Although the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) approved the constitution-based intervention into the City of Tshwane council by the Gauteng provincial government, the decision could still be challenged in court.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) could exploit a technicality emanating from the alleged failure to apply the right constitutional section in dissolving the council by the Gauteng authorities.

There is a belief that a draconian approach was used to deal with the situation.

Even the South African Local Government Association (Salga) in its submission to the NCOP was concerned about this.

Salga suggested that not enough was done in terms of the constitution before the metro was put under administration. It said the more drastic section 139 should be the last resort, as section 154 should be the first option.

It said there was not sufficient evidence to confirm that section 154 was exhausted prior to the intervention. Section 154 provides for the province to give support to a municipality to address its shortcomings.

The association was surprised that the allegations of corruption also informed the decision to dissolve the City of Tshwane council because there were other processes to be followed.

The Salga representative went on to say that if the problem was not solved now, an election wouldn’t solve it, as the parties would still face the same problems.

The NCOP approved the City of Tshwane dissolution as recommended by the select committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs, water and sanitation, which this week gave the intervention its nod.

Eight ANC-led provinces came up in favour of the dissolution while the Western Cape, led by the DA, voted against it.

The Tshwane council dissolution was announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura on 5 March after lengthy political infighting among the parties, which brought service delivery to a complete standstill – including an acute water shortage in the city.

The NCOP had to approve the intervention within 14 days of its imposition in terms of the law.

The select committee said it was convinced that there are exceptional circumstances that warranted the dissolution of the municipality as it had showed it was unable to achieve its constitutional obligation in terms of section 152 of the constitution.

“The fact of the matter is that no one will win if things continue in the manner that they are going currently in the municipality,” NCOP representative China Dodovu said.

He said the decision was to ensure the residents of Tshwane received quality service delivery which the municipality could not provide currently as a result of its dysfunctionality and leadership vacuum.

The committee highlighted that the municipality had been unable to meet to pass the adjustment budget or to sign off the annual report.

Dodovu said they also considered that there was currently a leadership vacuum at both executive and legislative levels of the local government which directly impacted on governance of the municipality.

The Integrated Development Plan was not in place, ward committees were not appointed and the municipality had various service delivery challenges, including poor water provision, no refuse removal and no electricity supply, especially in townships.

The DA Tshwane mayoral candidate Randall Williams said his party welcomed the Salga submission to the NCOP, which had not been taken into consideration by the council as it approved the intervention.

Williams described the Salga response as a “sober and realistic one” that should be taken seriously by the NCOP before it approved the dissolution.

“Furthermore, the DA calls on the NCOP to be non-partisan, to put the residents of Tshwane first, and to consider the input of all stakeholders,” Williams said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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