This week I listened to Police Minister Bheki Cele, seated next to Herman Mashaba, detailing progress in the fight against crime. He emphasised the importance of government unity across all spheres in achieving urgent common goals.
The recent visit by Minister Blade Nzimande to Cape Town also showed a willingness to co-operate with the city in resolving the rail transport crisis.
These are important developments.
Chapter 3 of our Constitution lays out the principles of co-operative government. Section 41(1) insists that all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must, among other things, co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith by:
- Fostering friendly relations.
- Assisting and supporting one another.
- Informing one another of, and consulting one another on, matters of common interest.
- Co-ordinating their actions and legislation with one another.
- Adhering to agreed procedures.
- Avoiding legal proceedings against one another.
I am raising this issue of obligatory co-operation because tension in South Africa is mounting alarmingly. The water, land, and housing issues have been posing serious challenges for the city. The water tariffs are steep at present and problematic for the average household.
As the water crisis in the city deepened last year, each sphere of government blamed the other for being remiss and doing nothing in the face of warnings. In the end, it was the ordinary citizen who had to bear the painful consequences of governmental failure.
In the same period, the issue of land and housing has come to the fore. Mayco lays much of the blame at the door of national government for hampering its delivery of houses.
It will not matter one iota who is to blame when the powder keg goes off. I have been urging the City’s top brass to create a multi-party delegation to engage with the national government to seek optimal co-operation where blockages and impediments occur. Let us use Chapter 3 of the Constitution to achieve faster progress.
Once again, in a response to my recent letter to Councillor Brett Herron, he indicated that any pre-sale of affordable housing was not possible because the national government did not allow it. Where I live, in Century View, the land had to be purchased first.
After the registration of the land in our name, we could choose one of eight different configurations. Then, when the mortgages were triggered, the construction started at dizzying speed. Processes that run concurrently and allow for choice make for speed and desirability.
Now that Council has given Mayco the green light to appoint a multi-year specialist team to expedite housing delivery, it would be better to fit the family to a fit-for-purpose-house rather than fit the house to the family.
In the last two years, I have heard that co-operation in the housing sphere has been egregious and to the detriment of housing delivery in Cape Town. This has to stop. The fullest co-operation is required all round.
If Ramaphosa’s ministers are engaging with other role-players, the City should invite the minister of Housing to smooth all processes and rough ends. The clock is ticking. The fuse is burning.