Nkosikhulule Nyembezi
And so where to now?
Labour Court Judge J van Niekerk ruled on November 17 that prohibiting all municipal employees from holding office in a political party was unconstitutional.
Effectively, the court declared invalid the often coldly communicated instructions by municipalities telling employees to resign from any political office-bearer positions they may hold or face dismissal.
The instructions have been a source of controversy in several municipalities as party factions have sought to undermine one another in their thirst for political control over public funds and municipal managers, senior managers and staff members in municipalities who are also holding political offices or their parties deployed them as part of political goals.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill into law in October 2022, barring municipal workers and senior managers from holding political office in South Africa and empowering MECs to take appropriate steps to enforce compliance, which include the application of declaratory orders on the validity of appointments of influential individuals to political office after the November 2021 local government elections.
I was among those who questioned the wisdom of using such an approach to deal with political power balancing at the expense of the constitutional rights of every citizen to make political choices to join a political party and stand for public office.
The protection and promotion of the constitutional rights of citizens is a canard whose wings should always provide stability to our nation. From the beginning, the government must have ensured that a law with far-reaching consequences was consistent with the Constitution.
The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) successfully took the SA Local Government Association and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to the Labour Court for implementing the law which states: “A staff member may not hold political office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.”
It defines political office as “the position of chairperson, deputy chairperson, secretary, deputy secretary or treasurer of a political party nationally or in any province, region or other areas in which the party operates”.
Samwu general secretary Dumisane Magagula said since the government enacted the amendments in October 2022, the union opposed them, considering them a violation of workers’ constitutional rights.
Amid rising concerns over corruption and maladministration in public service, the legislation replaced a 2011 version with a political office ban that applied only to municipal managers and their direct reports.
Slightly ambitious perhaps, the law came as part of a broader project to professionalise public services in South Africa, clamp down on questionable appointments in local government, and introduce a new blanket ban on all 350 000 municipal employees from holding office at any level in a political party.
The development sparked mixed reactions among citizens who questioned whether the project interventions could help shift public attitudes towards creating zero tolerance for corruption and propel the professionalisation of civil service at the municipal level.
Other measures introduced include establishing uniform norms and standards and enforcing minimum qualification and competency criteria for senior management, such as tertiary qualifications, a minimum of five years of management experience and specific critical leadership competencies, such as problem-solving.
The political activists continue to be dismayed by today’s apathy towards local affairs, as many have made it their job to celebrate the virtues of public-spirited service in the community’s interests.
However, when the law came about in October 2022, most activists expressed concerns over what appeared to be the government’s aspiration to address an administrative crisis made worse by its predecessors through its policy and legislative reforms that are sometimes poorly implemented and insensitive to constitutional rights.
Its recent legislation and regulations make important points, suggesting greater accountability for public representatives and public service can restore pride to places that have felt neglected by local governments struggling to maintain functional coalitions.
This is a sentiment that most people could happily endorse, as many had hoped that local coalitions would graduate to provincial and national levels.
But without significantly enhanced accountability measures at the correct level, such as party deployment committees, including the ability to devise and implement measures that do not infringe on the constitutional rights of citizens, the promised legislative interventions have always risked delivering responsibility without power.
Why have political parties such as the ANC not barred from holding political office individuals implicated in the Zondo Commission on state capture?
The public continue to draw their conclusions. In our maturing democracy, it seems logical that all citizens have the freedom to hold political party positions.
In a democracy, who is allowed to hold a party job – and why – are basic but always interesting questions.
Especially in a democracy as young and fledgling as South Africa, with decades of alterations to the electorate and yet its tendency to see each new set of arrangements as natural, eternal and wise.
Beneath the self-congratulation and claims of political neutrality in advancing the objectives of the faulty legislation, however, the shape of the electorate is always the product of power struggles, which are no less intense for often being hidden from sight. How adult or South African do you need to be to have a say through a political party job in how the politicians govern the country? These are contested issues in an ever more fluid environment.
When widespread cynicism towards political parties has soared, such opposition to a desultory blanket prohibition on holding party positions testifies to another layer of deep disaffection with our politics.
One of the key ideas in the government’s legislative agenda is “anti-corruption” – a buzzword of our times because so many people think there is far too little of it.
After the Labour Court decision and the December 4 Constitutional Court decision on the Electoral Act amendments affecting independent candidates, the media’s overwhelming focus will be on what this means for the results of the 2024 national and provincial elections. As citizens and taxpayers promised services by the national, provincial and local governments, we deserve better.
Nyembezi is a policy analyst, researcher and human rights activist
Cape Times