Cabinet slams Western Cape bill as a power grab

The cabinet has slammed what it said amounts to the DA-controlled Western Cape government seeking to introduce federalism into the country’s system of government.

The draft Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill, which has the support of premier Alan Winde, states that the province intends to assert its existing provincial and local powers and/or seek the delegation or assignment of powers from national government in the areas of policing, public transport including municipal public transport; energy, including electricity generation, transmission and reticulation; trade, including international trade; and harbours, including national harbours.

Currently the mandate of the Western Cape, like all provinces, is largely limited to providing education and health care. 

In terms of the constitution national government assigns powers and police minister Bheki Cele has already rejected the Western Cape's request for more policing powers.

The preamble to the draft bill notes that national government is unable or unwilling to deliver services to the people of the Western Cape.

The preamble adds that the provincial government and various local authorities in the province not only have the capacity and will to correct the failures of the national government, but also have a constitutional obligation to assert their existing provincial and local powers, and to seek all additional powers necessary in further the constitutional rights of all its residents.

The provincial government and municipal authorities should seek to exercise the maximum possible degree of autonomy and control over their own affairs within the existing constitutional arrangements, the preamble says.

Furthermore, it asserts that “where it can be established that the national government is failing to fulfil its constitutional obligations to the Western Cape people, the provincial government must be empowered to step in to ensure that the constitutional rights of the Western Cape people are met".

In a media statement on Thursday cabinet said the draft bill was unconstitutional and said it had mandated minister of justice Ronald Lamola and co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Thembisile Nkadimeng to discuss the matter with the Western Cape provincial government.

That would be in line with the dispute resolution mechanisms as provided for in the constitution and the applicable intergovernmental framework.

“The draft bill violates the provisions of Schedules 4 and 5 of the constitution that set out powers and functions including concurrent powers of both the provincial and national executives," the statement reads.

“Cabinet has noted that this draft bill is an attempt to revert to the Democratic Party’s (forerunner to the DA) preferred federal approach that seeks to undermine a united and inclusive SA.”

The statement said it was noteworthy the Western Cape’s draft bill ignored the exclusion from access to services of the large black communities of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Langa, the Cape Flats, Delft and Central Line, among others.

Winde has suggested the province’s bid to have certain powers devolved to it from the national government may end up in the Constitutional Court if intergovernmental processes do not achieve that objective.

ensorl@businesslive.co.za