There is also strong speculation that the deal will involve a ministerial and deputy ministerial post for the NNP at national level
Marianne Merten
The Western Cape African National Congress looks set to forego the provincial premiership in exchange for the majority of seats on the provincial cabinet, as part of the co-operation pact with the New National Party now on the brink of finalisation.
There is also strong speculation that the deal will involve a ministerial and deputy ministerial post for the NNP at national level. Earlier this week it was revealed that the party demanded three national ministers and two deputy ministers as an opening gambit.
A veil of secrecy has been drawn over the agreement, of which the details will only be announced once a complete package for all three tiers of government is agreed.
It is expected the new Western Cape cabinet will comprise 12 MEC posts, including the addition of a planning and development portfolio to accelerate service delivery. The ANC is also likely to claim finance, housing, education and agriculture.
The path is now clear for ex-Cape Town mayor Peter Marais to become Western Cape premier. He was assured by the NNP leadership of being “part of our future plans” in a “key senior role”. In return, a beaming Marais said on Thursday he felt like “a child taken out of foster care and placed back with his real parents”.
His hand is likely to be strengthened next Thursday when the NNP head council is expected to select him as provincial leader. The position became vacant when Gerald Morkel resigned last week to be elected as Democratic Alliance (DA) head in the Western Cape last Saturday.
A Western Cape NNP source says Marais is “without doubt the favourite” candidate for the premiership. If his style is seen as politically too risky, the choice may fall on a “safer” candidate like NNP MEC Cobus Dowry or ex-transport MEC Piet Meyer. But the Western Cape ANC may also find Marais hard to swallow as premier, following his aborted flirtation with the party in 1999.
On Thursday NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk for the first time hinted he would not accept a Cabinet post, if offered. “I like this wood-panelled office best of all,” he replied in his office at Parliament when asked about his future.
Further discussions are planned between the ANC and NNP, while the parties are also holding internal discussions.
It is understood that when the parties’ task teams met in Gauteng on Wednesday the principles and technicalities of the co-operation agreement were in place. These include provisions for the NNP to retain its identity and the right to disagree with the ANC, consensus-reaching mechanisms and a procedure to make inputs into policy formulation.
“We are on course. We are committed to making the discussions a success, to come to an agreement. It will be soon, but that will be a joint announcement,” Van Schalkwyk said.
Despite the reluctance to set a deadline, the participatory governance pact is definitely expected before December 12. That is the date by which the Western Cape premier’s post must be filled to avert a mandatory election.
The Western Cape ANC is understood to be conducting an audit of MEC portfolios and key provincial administration jobs. New candidates will have to fulfil at least two criteria: race and gender equity and the ability to deliver services.
The NNP’s decisions on its MEC candidates will be informed by bringing on board new faces. Another consideration is whether current NNP MECs joined ex-premier Morkel’s rebellion or stayed loyal to the NNP.
Current finance MEC Leon Markovitz is almost certainly out of a job, while Meyer, who resigned in the wake of the provincial cabinet flip-flops, and social services MEC David Malatsi, the only black MEC, are expected to remain in the cabinet, if not necessarily in their current portfolios.
Marais won his court battle against his expulsion from the Democratic Alliance on Wednesday, and subsequent removal as mayor. But four hours later, sitting in his mayoral suite, he announced his resignation and official return to the NNP fold.
“The DA is a pale white laager of very frightened people … [DA leader] Tony Leon is an insecure, incompetent leader, who hides behind spin doctors, script writers and a liberal dosage of arrogance,” Marais said. “The DA is a party for rich people with a few hotnot [coloured] members to win elections.”
Insiders say transforming the Western Cape administration is more important than deciding who gets what post. The majority of the administration’s top managers are white and male.
In addition, plans are under way to ensure old guard managers will not undermine the new co-operative government’s initiatives. This could mean the exit of current director general Niel Barnard, the head of the apartheid-era National Intelligence Service, despite the cost implications. Among names touted as possible replacements are former University of Stellenbosch rector Andries van Wyk and former Cape Town Safer City manager Omar Valley.
Meanwhile, the power balance in the Cape Town unicity executive committee is also shifting. The ANC notified the city it would now claim its four seats on the council executive committee. These are due to them according to votes obtained in the December 2000 local government election. This means two NNP and two Democratic Party members of the DA must give way, effectively throwing the power balance in the unicity.
And Morkel’s anticipated election to mayor at Wednesday’s full council sitting he was nominated as DA candidate shortly before his resignation from the NNP last Monday may yet turn out to be short-lived.
Senior NNP members remain confident that once floor-crossing provisions are in place early next year the overwhelming majority of its 70 councillors will return to the party fold. It would take only 24 councillors to give an outright majority to an ANC-NNP co-operative government.
But concern remains that political instability at council level may continue for months while crucial decisions on rates increases and management appointments must be made.
The city, where two-thirds of its residents live on or below the poverty line, has been without a permanent mayor for five weeks and the province without a premier for two.