Photo: Flickr
Photo: Flickr
A leaked document, allegedly published and circulated by the higher echelons of the ANC, outlines some stark plans to reshape the way local municipalities operate. Although the government is yet to confirm the authenticity of the 46-page proposal, the official opposition has already rallied against it.
Alleged ‘top secret’ document plans huge local government changes
Cilliers Brink, the shadow COGTA minister, shared the document in an email sent round on Monday afternoon. The publication, in his eyes, is tantamount to a ‘coup plot’. The DA enjoy good regional support in the Western Cape, but a ‘centralisation’ of power to the state would loosen their grip on the south-west.
“The document seems to reveal an ANC plan to slowly roll back the powers of democratically elected local and provincial governments. This is nothing short of a coup d’état. The document literally invokes the phrase ‘never waste a good crisis’ and describes the response of the government to the pandemic as ‘exemplary’.”
“It also proposes using the District Development Model and the Command Council system as a means of centralised government policy-making. This is a cover for the ANC grabbing more government power, and eventually doing away with provincial and local elections.”
Cilliers Brink
Can the ANC ‘take power’ from local governments?
But what actually features in the document? Well, passages like this threaten to disrupt ‘old ways of government’:
“As an approach that should form the basis for a response to the current crisis. The District Development Model (DDM) is aimed at enhancing state capacity, institutional powers and functions which includes the ability to work in a cooperative manner so that there is greater cohesion and positive development impact.”
“The DDM must inform SA’s economic response and disrupt current and old ways of how the government has been working. It will bind all three spheres of government to commonly agreed objectives and ensure that, as a government, our efforts take into account the unique circumstances of different localities.”
Alleged ANC document
The text goes on, isolating local government in its cross hairs:
- It states that ‘drastic and decisive action’ is needed locally to implement a number of structural or management reforms.
- Featured in the memo is a desire to ‘revise the role of the state and local government’, moving away from the direct responsibility of service delivery and towards a community model for service provision.
- The document also claims local government ‘must be reimagined’ in the short, medium, and long term.
The DA will put a formal question to the President asking whether the document has any formal status in government, and whether its contents reflect current or proposed government policy. – @BrinkCilliers
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) July 6, 2020
National Command Council ‘here to stay’
We are awaiting a response from the ANC, to confirm how much truth is contained in these papers. Another surprise claim centres around our National Command Council: Established to help set-out the rules of lockdown and their subsequent enforcement, it may eventually become a permanent fixture for this ‘new way of governing’.
“The current model of local government worked well in deepening democracy and expanding service delivery to previously underserved communities. But it has also huge dysfunctionalities. We need a centralised decision-making body, which functions precisely as the [National] Central Command Council does.”
“To give effect to the economic recovery of the country, a mirroring of the NCCC in its institutional form would be required: A centralised policy-making, project-planning, and decision-taking council would be established.”
Alleged ANC document
Tags:
