Provinces must stay; Constitution 17th Amendment Bill must go

The DA condemns in the strongest possible terms the acknowledgement yesterday by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, that the ruling party may try to scrap the provinces and that it is forging ahead with the Constitution 17th Amendment Bill (see article). I have written to President Zuma requesting an urgent meeting to state my objections to these measures.

These two interventions would deal a fatal blow to the letter and spirit of our Constitution.  They are intended to entrench the hegemony of the ANC across South Africa and concentrate power in the hands of unelected officials in Luthuli House, who then deploy politicians to government to do their bidding.The Minister's support for this approach makes a mockery of his title as the head of "cooperative governance". 

The Constitution provides for three spheres of government, at national, provincial and local level. The constitutional principles of co-operative governance require all three spheres of government to "exercise their powers and perform their functions in a manner that does not encroach on the geographical, functional or institutional integrity of government in another sphere". 

And the Constitution is very clear about the nature of those executive and legislative powers in the provinces. These are the federal aspects of our Constitution. They do not threaten our democracy. They deepen it.

The ANC's desire to abolish or reduce the number of provinces is driven by its inability to accept that the DA won a popular mandate to govern in the Western Cape, on the basis of a free and fair election. The ANC fears the implementation of the DA's policies at provincial level, because this will threaten the ANC's dominance nationally.

The Constitution 17th Amendment Bill empowers national government to usurp powers from local government. If the ANC manages to pass this constitutional amendment, giving itself a range of reasons to override local government, the ANC will effectively nullify voters' choice and enforce ANC policy from the centre -  even where the ANC loses power in local elections.  The Bill will enable the ANC to continue its power abuse by removing important constitutional mechanisms that local governments can currently use to counter such abuse. 

The ANC must unequivocally reject the unconstitutional idea that the provinces should be eliminated or reduced and it must stop the Constitution 17th Amendment Bill in its tracks. I intend putting the DA's case to President Zuma at his earliest convenience.

Statement issued by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, June 23 2009

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