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Meagre proposals versus daunting challenges – analysis of the ANC

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Nowhere has the ANC in government been faltering more visibly and pervasively than in local government (with national government responsibility-complicity). There is a stark contradiction between the ANC’s political predominance in the vast majority of councils and its mixed-to-questionable achievements in delivering the better life on the ground. The stakes are high for the ANC. In many respects the ANC and ANC-in-government have entered a now or never zone: improved performance now or decline forever. Much depends on getting things right in the subject matter areas that the Legislature and governance policy discussion document addresses – fully functional, performing local and provincial government, clean governance, accountability in the legislatures. The document’s proposals need to buttress turnarounds. The document accurately identifies the fault-lines that beg for correction, especially in local government. ‘Poor governance’ and ‘weak financial management’ are the euphemisms that stand in for corruption and mismanagement. The document stumbles, however, courtesy of a series of mismatches between the severe actually existing problems and the limited scope of solutions that are advanced. The proposals are often partial stabs at the problem. They might make a difference, but they hardly bring hope that answers have been found. The types of solutions that leap off the pages of Legislature and governance are mostly balls in the air (show the people that ‘we are working on the problem’), long-termism (proposals will bear fruit at some point far into the future), reinvent the wheel (previous proposals have been revived, reformulated) and silences (for some biting problems no solutions are suggested). A few suitable solutions or directions – for example to revisit district municipalities, revise funding formulae for local government and devolve more functions to strong municipalities – emerge. Then they get humbled by either being long-term by design (not intended to bring rapid change) or by default (going the slowly-tread-softly-and-don’t-step-on-political-toes route of implementation of much of ANC policy and government work). The ANC is accomplished at providing evidence that it is working on problems. Across the policy areas, whether it is the ANC in relation to local government, health care, education or job creation, there is almost invariably ample evidence in the 2012 discussion documents of proposals for ANC and government strategies, commissions, panels of experts, summits, high-level ANC lekgotla and unfolding implementation plans. ‘Trust us, we are working on it, we are making progress.’ The balls are in the air and the ANC demonstrates continuous work. The message is that citizens just need to suspend judgment, allow more time for Rome to be built and keep trusting in the ANC. This goes hand-in-hand with the document’s long-termism. Such is the case on proposals for the often-problematic district municipalities. Despite recognising the scope and urgency of the problem, the most crucial proposals by all current indications will deliver at best years down the line – considering the complexity of the issue, internal and inter-party politics, and the ANC-in-government’s reputation to procrastinate on policy implementation. The ANC’s policy wheels turn slowly. To illustrate, it is now roughly a year since promulgation of the Municipal Systems Amendment Act, and the discussion document now urges the ANC to ‘develop guidelines for the implementation’ of the Act. (The Act prohibits office bearers of political parties from occupying municipal management positions.)

Calls for greater accountability in and by the legislatures are not entirely convincing

Calls for greater accountability in and by the legislatures are not entirely convincing Continuous ‘reinventions of the wheel’ closely define national government interventions on local government. In the time of the Zuma administration, the Mbeki government’s municipal reviews (not perfect, but the subsequent ones hardly improvements) were discarded and reinvented … and the same processes with corresponding findings effectively repeated. Several 2012 proposals remind of the Mbeki regime offerings. ‘Silences’ speak out loudly. Many of the problems with local government relate to services and quality of life issues in the urban and metropolitan township and informal settlement areas, and increasingly the blend of the two. Yet, the weak and the rural municipalities capture the bulk of the attention. The elephant in the room is addressed in terms of subdued references to weak financial management, poor governance and need for accountability. The document is scrawny on the ANC’s role in leveraging clean, honest, accountable local governance, also in as far as its own cadre-councillors fuse public and private financial assets. TheLegislature and governancedocument appears confused. It blends the ANC’s assortment of hats. When is it government, when political party and when governing party that is being addressed? The document’segotestifies to knowing what is expected, how the governing party needs to draw the party-state line. It issues reassurances on accountability to the people. It offers extended ward committees to fill in the slack on public participation and community-connected government. Enters thealter egothat knows the extent to which the implementation of legislation for separation of the executive (de facto ANC) and legislative powers will sabotage the ANC’s contemporary project of consolidating and retaining power. Calls for greater accountability in and by the legislatures are not entirely convincing. The broad brush strokes of the proposals for the reorganisation of local and provincial government contrast with the document’s detailed attention to vote counting in local elections and continued separation of local and national-provincial elections. Given the balance of advantages accruing to the ANC, it recommends the retention of separate elections, mostly for inducing mid-term assessments and ANC leaders’ community outreach. It notes that provincial ANCs lead in the determination of local candidates. It is deemed impractical for all levels of ANC ‘legislature’ positions to become vacant at the same time. The document questions the prevailing method for seat calculation in local election results, a system which works to the advantage of micro- and small parties. It irks the ANC that these parties sometimes hold the ANC to ransom in the small municipal councils. The phenomenon may very well become history. Opposition parties are also potentially affected through the proposals for (further consideration of) prevailing provincial boundaries. The lasting impression thatLegislature and governanceleaves is that of a mismatch between acknowledged needsfor action to fill the gaps and the deficits in current legislature and governance practice, and the too meagre proposals on offer.

– By ANALYSIS: Susan Booysen, Wits University Graduate School of P&DM

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