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While much chatter concentrates on the general election and the possible outcomes, the provincial vote may be the most fascinating.
We may need another poll to better understand the likelihood of this outcome, but if the newly formed MK party ends up the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal and can govern the province without the ANC or EFF, and if the DA is the largest party in the Western Cape and can govern without the ANC, EFF or MK, it would be in the interests of both the DA and MK to support moves for greater federal autonomy.
Citizens could escape more aspects of ANC misrule in the short term if provinces had more autonomy. In the same way that electricity generation is being supplanted by private sector solutions (also known as privatisation by stealth), with greater devolution the scope for centrally planned mismanagement and state-owned enterprise bailouts will be curtailed as funds are disbursed to the provinces.
A second order effect would be defunding the ANC patronage machine. Not all provinces can deliver (the North West would be exhibit A), but those that blossom when they emerge from the ANC shadow will by 2029 have a case study to point to.
I may be overly rational and hopeful, but I can’t think of a better antidote to populist policies than evidence.
Greg Becker Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Look to the provinces
While much chatter concentrates on the general election and the possible outcomes, the provincial vote may be the most fascinating.
We may need another poll to better understand the likelihood of this outcome, but if the newly formed MK party ends up the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal and can govern the province without the ANC or EFF, and if the DA is the largest party in the Western Cape and can govern without the ANC, EFF or MK, it would be in the interests of both the DA and MK to support moves for greater federal autonomy.
Citizens could escape more aspects of ANC misrule in the short term if provinces had more autonomy. In the same way that electricity generation is being supplanted by private sector solutions (also known as privatisation by stealth), with greater devolution the scope for centrally planned mismanagement and state-owned enterprise bailouts will be curtailed as funds are disbursed to the provinces.
A second order effect would be defunding the ANC patronage machine. Not all provinces can deliver (the North West would be exhibit A), but those that blossom when they emerge from the ANC shadow will by 2029 have a case study to point to.
I may be overly rational and hopeful, but I can’t think of a better antidote to populist policies than evidence.
Greg Becker
Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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