The nine ‘very frustrated’ provincial premiers meet central government ministers today in a fresh bid to sort out their lack of powers. Chris Louw reports
ALMOST four months after assuming office, the country’s nine premiers still lack the powers they need to govern their provinces effectively. The nine “very frustrated” leaders will meet Constitutional Development Minister Roelf Meyer in Cape Town today in a fresh bid to sort out their problems.
Minister without Portfolio Jay Naidoo, who is in charge of the reconstruction and development programme, and Thozamile Botha, government adviser on provincial affairs, will also attend today’s meeting.
High on the agenda is the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC), designed to deal with financial relations between the central and provincial governments but which has yet to be appointed. “Technical reasons” have been cited for this, but it is expected that the premiers will insist on the FFC being set up as soon as possible because increased autonomy for regional governments is impossible without it.
Provincial government has so far posed the new government with its most complicated problem. It is now accepted that local government elections, originally scheduled for April next year, will take place later — possibly in October 1995.
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Finances (JCF) warned in its first official report last month that central government was transferring administrative powers, financial powers and accounting officers to the provinces at different times, which created problems.
One of the biggest was the fact that transfer of financial power to the provinces did not coincide with the transfer of administrative capacity, said the report.
It also expressed concern over the failure to provide for the cost of municipal elections in both the national and provincial budgets.
Although administrative powers were transferred to the provinces last month, accounting officers responsible for setting up financial structures have yet to be appointed in some provinces.
While R660-million has been allocated for local governmnent, it still isn’t clear how the money will be spent.
In some areas, such as the Northern Transvaal, there is virtually no local-government infrastructure, while other regions are considerably better off.