GETTING RID OF PROVINCES WILL BE ADMISSION OF ANC FAILURE

Some positive news recently emerged after DA Leader and Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, met with President Jacob Zuma. This was that provinces are not in the immediate firing line of the ANC Government. However, Zuma’s assurances did not close the door on either the debate or the possibility of provinces disappearing in the future. He just indicated that provinces were here to stay for the time being and that he will inform other parties when this changes. Thus it can be argued that the door is still wide open on the issue.
A further sign that the door is still wide open on the future of provinces is the fact that Constitutional Amendment 17 is still on the table. This amendment will give central government the power to intervene in the executive decision making of municipal councils should it experience resistance to the execution of its centrally formulated schemes. Power, I would suggest, paving the way for the abolition of provinces and regulating a centralised relationship between national and local government.
Should provinces be abolished in the future it will lead to an over centralisation of power and it will effectively erode South Africa’s Constitution to such an extent that it will impede the freedom its citizens are enjoying currently. There will be less accountability by Government as central government will become extremely big and inaccessible. Local government, even though it might enjoy more powers, will just become even more derelict in service delivery as it will not be able to deal with the added responsibilities. It already struggles with its current mandate how will it deal with current provincial powers being devolved to it in future?
It seems as if, technically, Jacob Zuma was honest with HelenZille when he said that provinces will remain for the time being. However, I do not believe he was totally honest about the ANC’s plans for provinces once “for the time being” has expired. I still firmly believe that provinces are still very much in the firing line of the ANC government. The main argument will be that provinces are a “stone in the river” slowing down the flow of resources necessary for proper service delivery.
This argument does not hold water as the flow of resources can be accelerated through proper and capable management and management systems and procedures. The argument does inherently come down to an admission by the ANC that it is unable to govern provinces. An inherent admission that the ANC failed despite hailing their successes during every election campaign. The ANC does not seem able to manage within any type of system that is not centrally controlled (i.e. control freaking).
So, beware the debate about provinces are still a very hot issue and we should not become complacent based on “technically honest” assurances. We cannot go forward on assurances, what we need is a commitment from President Zuma that provinces should stay, we need a totally honest stance before we can become assured.