Opposing views regarding a possible change in the type of governance of the city of Cape Town — the only metro area in the country ruled by parties other than the national ruling African National Congress (ANC) — have the potential to evolve into an intergovernmental dispute, says Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi.
He said he would be inviting Cape Town mayor Helen Zille — of the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), who heads a multiparty administration in the city, which took power in March — and the Western Cape’s provincial minister responsible for local government and housing, Richard Dyantyi, to a meeting next Wednesday.
”The purpose of the proposed meeting will be to find common ground in addressing the governance issues that are of concern to both the Western Cape provincial government and the city of Cape Town.”
Dyantyi recently signalled his intention to go through the process of changing the current system of government from a mayoral executive system — with an all-powerful mayor — to a proportional mayoral committee system. This would effectively put the ANC and Independent Democrats in power with the DA.
Mufamadi, at a press conference at Parliament on Thursday, said it would be a ”dereliction of duty” if he stood by and allowed the matter to go to court. In terms of the intergovernmental framework, he said the three spheres of government — national, provincial and local — needed to avoid ”intergovernmental disputes”.
Zille has threatened to take the system change to court.
Asked by a journalist if the action of Dyantyi was simply ”ANC bully boy tactics” — with the ANC, which lost the election, ”behaving like cry babies” — the minister repeated that the matter was a matter between two spheres of government.
Disputes could arise even between spheres of government where the same party ruled, noted the minister.
Meanwhile, it was reported on Wednesday that Cabinet has decided to leave the decision about Cape Town’s form of governance up to the provincial government.
”Cabinet noted the steps taken by the Western Cape provincial government to introduce a change in the form of government in the city of Cape Town,” government communications head Themba Maseko told a media briefing after Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys.
”Cabinet took the view that the matter was a matter of provincial competence and should be dealt with [in] the context of existing legislative framework,” he said.
Maseko did not elaborate. — I-Net Bridge, Sapa