Cabinet has delegated two of its ministers to enter into discussions with the Western Cape government’s draft bill aimed at asserting and assuming provincial powers from the national government.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet briefing, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the Cabinet was briefed at its Wednesday meeting about the “unconstitutional” draft Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill.
“Cabinet has mandated the ministers of justice and Cogta to enter into discussions with the Western Cape government in line with the relevant dispute resolution mechanisms as provided for in section 146 of the Constitution and the applicable intergovernmental framework,” she said.
Ntshavheni said the draft bill violated 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.
“Cabinet has noted that this draft bill is an attempt to revert back to the Democratic Party’s, forerunner to the DA, preferred federal approach that seeks to undermine a united and inclusive South Africa,” she said.
DA federal chairperson Helen Zille has stated that the bill encapsulated her party’s approach to federal autonomy for provinces and metros that have the capacity to manage devolved functions from central government.
The bill, which was endorsed by the DA federal council in June, seeks to promote the exercise of provincial powers in the Western Cape by establishing a 10-member Provincial Powers Committee to report to the legislature on the assertion and assumption of provincial powers.
Its preamble states that the national government was unable or unwilling to deliver services to the people of the Western Cape.
The bill, which is also backed by Freedom Front Plus and ACDP, states that the provincial and local authorities in the Western Cape have a constitutional obligation to assert their existing provincial and local powers.
Ntshavheni said it was noteworthy that the 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.
According to Ntshavheni, there were constitutional processes in which provinces could make their bills. She also said there were constitutional functions that were assigned to provinces and national governments.
“When there is a move being attempted in the Western Cape to usurp the national government powers, we have the responsibility to guide the province of the Western Cape to say we are not a federal government but we are a unitary republic and there is only one Constitution.
“We do that by engaging and discussing with them to say this is how the government systems work as provided for in the Constitution.
“We want to make sure, that we have a responsibility to remind the Western Cape that ... we are going to remain one country,” she said.
Cape Times