Western Cape Premier Helen Zille says she has told President Jacob Zuma he should see the Democratic Alliance-controlled province as an opportunity, not as a threat.
Delivering her state of the province address on Friday, she also promised what she described as a ”back to basics” approach in the province, which would include a determined review of financial management and staffing.
In her address, which was not preceded by the pomp and ceremony enjoyed by her predecessors, she said she was encouraged by the ”congenial and professional” working relationship she had experienced at the extended Cabinet lekgotla that ended on Thursday.
She had got the sense that Zuma meant what he said in his inauguration speech, when he invited South Africans to participate in democratic debate and air different views.
”During a conversation with President Zuma yesterday [Thursday], I asked him to regard the Western Cape as an opportunity, and not as a threat,” she said.
”I told him that we would always act in good faith and in the interests of all our people when we propose alternative approaches to solve some of our country’s most pressing problems.
”I said that we need the space to implement them.”
She said no single political party had a monopoly on wisdom and solutions, and it was in everyone’s interests to establish which policy interventions worked.
Zille said the tone at the lekgotla was in stark contrast to the ”ongoing slander” emanating from the African National Congress Youth League and the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) military veterans association.
The youth league has claimed she is sleeping with the members of her provincial executive council, all of whom, apart from her, are male, while the veterans have said they will make sure she ”does not govern properly”.
Their invective, and their demand that she apologise to Zuma, was sparked by Zille’s statement that he had put his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman.
Zille said on Friday that Zuma was president of all South Africans.
”Every one of us here, in the government and in the opposition, acknowledges his position with respect,” she said.
She said her administration had found that poor financial management in ”various” provincial departments had seriously undermined their capacity to deliver.
”Several departments are in deep financial trouble as a result of past practices, and do not have funds to fill staff vacancies at the delivery end of government, like nurses and teachers.
”All of this has been concealed by the secrecy applied to tender processes, and often shockingly weak controls on spending. There is no other way to describe this.”
She said her administration intended to introduce a new regime of tighter financial controls, and to open all tender processes to the media and public as far as possible.
Zille said the province had become a top-heavy organisation, with too many senior administrators and not enough staff delivering services.
The province was seeking expert advice to assess whether the staffing structure was ”designed to achieve our functions”.
”During this period of economic recession we are going back to basics, applying principles of good management and best practice to everything we do, so that we do the right things, within budget and on time,” she said.
”If we use this period to get all the basics of good, clean, accountable governance in place, we will have firm foundations on which to build when the upswing eventually happens.” — Sapa