The people shall be governed

The reassurance that the city of Tshwane is not, like the Freedom Front Plus would have us believe, mayorless after all was temporary and, unfortunately, highlighted a more disconcerting reality. The disconcerting reality is not, however, the fact that Dr Ramokgopa was retained as executive mayor of the worst-performing metropolitan municipality in the country — ignoring for a moment the “allegations of mismanagement and maladministration even after the city amassed a debt of R3.7 billion earlier this year, R800 million of which was for services not paid by the residents of Mamelodi” where she was booed off the stage, tears in her eyes.

Beyond her retention the real concern is rather how it was decided, by whom and the outcome of the decision. This process exposes a dangerous trend exactly because it is not an isolated incident and has played itself out in the Lekwe Municipality, specifically Sakhile, and in Dikgatlong where the respective mayors were removed.

To retain or not to retain, is not the question, the real question is, who makes that decision?

In all three instances mentioned above the provincial party structures — in these cases those of the ANC — met to do discuss, or were consulted with regards to, the fate of individuals who are primarily and constitutionally accountable to the local level of government and “the people”.

This is certainly not illegal, or unconstitutional, the party after all remains the main vehicle responsible for political representation. It is, however, counter-intuitive and puzzling considering the different electoral systems and mechanisms for representation and ensuring accountability at the national/provincial and local government levels.

Recourse to the provincial party structures suggests a total disregard for the principle of “the people shall govern” and highlights a ruling party’s preference for centralised deployment strategies and the idea that “the people shall be governed”. It is counter-intuitive at this level of government exactly because the represented have clear, demarcated channels for ensuring their voices be heard. Representatives have clearly defined constituencies — wards — through which grievances should be aired. Nothing, but dancing to the party tune, prevents councillors from having constituency meetings to receive input from those they represent — regardless of political affiliation.

Furthermore, in the case of Tshwane it is not only counter-intuitive to retain Dr Ramokgopa considering her loss of legitimacy and support in the key ANC area of Mamelodi (judging by electoral support), but disastrous in the long run as assessments of service delivery records and responsiveness to public demands may alter voting preferences (it is worthy to note that just under 25% of the city’s residents go without basic services).

The sad truth is that the Madiba shuffle of the immediate post-1994 period has been replaced by new tunes and new moves of deployment reshuffles. There is an apparent lack of political will or capacity to remove ineffective, non-performing individuals and instead the ruling party engages in constant reshuffles at all levels merely moving the players without improving the game.

Local government is not taken seriously and is not fulfilling its legitimate role as the basic vehicle for service delivery exactly because it is prone to demands of deployment and centralisation, and the deep-seated flaws in the ANC’s structures at the local level.

Calling for the structural reform of this level of government — as proposed by the DA and Cope in the form of direct election of mayors — is short-sighted and serves very little purpose if the culture of deployment and accountability to the party only remains the prime concern of representatives, particularly when we already have directly elected ward councillors.

For as long as the mantra of deployment and the “people shall be governed” dominates discourse at the local government poor performance and dismal track records will remain the norm. Instead of addressing the critical lack in capacity, administrative and managerial skills and political will to transform the face of local government into a legitimate and effective arm of the state trusted by “the people”, the typical restructuring and reshuffling activities will continue to trample on the sacrosanct idea that “the people shall govern”, the very notion that democracy is about representation and ultimately based on the consent and involvement of the citizenry.