Cape Town - The Western Cape provincial “Devolution of Powers Bill” public hearings have officially started in Worcester.
The bill, which seeks to take away certain powers from the national government, has been met with wide criticism from various political parties.
Last week, the ANC asked Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Thembisile Nkadimeng to launch an urgent investigation into the “controversial bill”.
ANC leader in the province Cameron Dugmore wrote to Minister Nkadimeng, requesting an urgent investigation into the bill, saying that if passed the bill would have serious implications for both the provincial executive committee of the Western Cape as well as the national executive.
“Your office is no doubt aware of the three legal opinions from legal advisers within the legislature. All these opinions express the view that this bill is unconstitutional.
“Despite these legal opinions, the legislature’s ad hoc committee on provincial powers has decided to proceed with public hearings starting on Monday, January 29,” said Dugmore.
He said the bill was unprecedented in the history of the legislature and yet it was to proceed with public hearings of a bill that had been declared unconstitutional by its own legal advisers.
Commenting on the bill, EFF Western Cape chairperson Unathi Ntame said they denounce the bill and warn against its weaponisation against the spirit of unity upon which the South African Constitution was built.
“With the bill’s intention to devolve further powers from the national government, thus going beyond the prescribed provincial powers outlined in schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution, the bill sets ground for secession, an act that, if effected, will constitute a constitutional crisis of the highest proportion.
“Its combative devolution agenda can have no positive developmental outcome(s) for the poor other than setting us back to many decades ago when South Africa was under the yoke of apartheid,” said Ntame.
Previously, the DA claimed that the National Treasury supported the devolution of powers to capable provincial and local governments.
The DA said that in response to the Western Cape’s recommendations for amendments by the NCOP to the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, the National Treasury had expressed its support for the devolution of rail, housing and bus services to capable provincial and local governments.
In response to a recommendation by the Western Cape budget committee that fiscal decentralisation be encouraged by National Treasury to empower provinces and municipalities for more effective service delivery, the National Treasury responded:
“The recommendation is noted. The National Treasury is on record supporting the devolution of rail, housing and bus services functions in a responsible and sustainable manner where capacity constraints are considered. We believe that, where possible, local governments should have greater fiscal control to better manage the resources available to them and enhance their ability to provide essential services.”