South Africa - Cape Town - 27 November 2023 - Premier Alan Winde and the DA-led Western Cape Government have declared an intergovernmental dispute with the ANC National Government, to secure funding from National Treasury for the public wage increase they centrally agreed and are enforcing on the province. The wage increase has seen the National Treasury scramble to fund this years budget and has led to grave budget cuts in-year. Photographer: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
The DA up till now has failed to become the governing party in South Africa and is now attempting to take on the powers of a national government in the Western Cape via other means.
The Western Cape Powers Bill is an attempt by the DA to circumvent the democratic process in South Africa whereby the governing party is chosen though the ballot box.
This attempt to become a national government must be seen in conjunction with attempts to make the Western Cape independent.
If such a course was to be pursued, the only people who have a legitimate claim to autonomy in the Western Cape are the Khoi-Khoi and their descendants, the coloured people.
The coloured people are already feeling like second-class citizens in South Africa under the ANC government and would continue to be second-class citizens in a DA-run independent Western Cape on their own historical land.
Let’s examine the DA’s statement that “the bill creates a framework for the province to fully assert its existing constitutional and legislative powers and to get more powers delegated from national government. It not only enables but instructs the provincial government to step in as far as constitutionally possible where national government is failing to perform a function.”
If the province has existing constitutional and legislative powers as per the Constitution, why do you need a bill reaffirming those powers?
The DA cannot delegate more powers to itself through the bill. Changes to the constitution would be required.
Delegating more powers to itself without the required changes to the Constitution is illegal and yet the DA wants the residents of Cape Town to abide by a by-law with regards to murals but has no issue with attempting to circumvent the highest law of the land, which is the Constitution.
* Ghalied Geduldt, Maitland.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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