Blowing in the Winde: more powers for the Cape
● There’s a fairy-tale quality to the rise of Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who used to own a bicycle shop in Knysna and now sometimes cycles to the provincial head office.
There is also something fairy-tale about his promise to devolve critical service delivery functions to his province.
But in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times the premier said he plans to ride his legislative reforms to the finish line — and has the milestones to prove it.
Winde, who delivered his state of the province address in Paarl two weeks ago, insists the devolution of powers to the province is no longer a vague ambition but a necessity due to national government failure. He said the province has no choice but to gain control over critical infrastructure, particularly ports and rail, as well as energy and crime prevention, if it is to fulfil its constitutional mandate to provide effective governance.
“We are on a hiding to nothing. We want to have power over ports and rail. In a devolved, more federal system, where provinces excel, other provinces will want to compete,” he said.
Measures in place to expedite the devolution plan include:
A new Western Cape Provincial Powers ● Bill, now out for public comment, that would ultimately need National Assembly support;
Moves to allow the province to generate its ● own power supply; and
An inter-governmental dispute to protect ● the province from national government-imposed budget cuts — necessitated by a ballooning public service wage bill.
Winde’s push for more provincial powers is also partly spurred by the implosion of some local municipalities, notably in his hometown of Knysna where basic services are grinding to a halt under a dysfunctional coalition government. The town is no longer able to keep up with refuse removal and water treatment services. “It is a total disaster,” he said. The province had been forced to intervene to shore up the municipality’s finances and ensure proper fiscal planning — a move replicated in other underperforming municipalities.
But Winde’s plans are not to everybody’s liking, particularly the ANC and EFF, who say the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill amounts to secession. The two provincial opposition parties insist Winde’s plan is not only unconstitutional but unconscionable. The ANC’s Cameron Dugmore, opposition leader in the Western Cape provincial legislature, said the bill would never become law. Winde was more concerned with “grandstanding” than with genuine co-operative governance, Dugmore told the Sunday Times.
“There are clear procedures in the constitution regarding powers and functions which also allow premiers to approach the cabinet should a province want to make a case for less or more functions. Winde has never done that,” Dugmore said. He “has fallen into the fatal pattern started by his predecessor Helen Zille — a combative pattern of blame and complain”. Winde says his efforts are purely utilitarian — he wants the best for his province, and by extension the best for the country, as he believes the Western Cape is already a model for other provinces, evidenced by a huge influx of jobseekers. He says the province is succeeding despite being short-changed by the National Treasury, which is still using outdated census figures to apportion the province’s share of the tax revenue pie.
“We are the fastest-growing province in South Africa. People are coming here from other failed systems to look for work — we have to respond. And we have to try and respond with less and less funding,” he said. The province was the third most populous, but only received the fifth biggest revenue share. “All I want is a fair allocation.”
Winde says the smaller allocation is particularly vexing in the light of the in-year budget cut necessitated by the inflated public service wage bill, which translated into a R1.1bn reduction in provincial public spending. “We don’t have a piggy bank we can raid — we have to find that money and there’s only one way, which is to cut services.”
In a statement issued after finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget speech, Winde confirmed the province would push ahead with its inter-governmental dispute to contest the budget cut. “We note that there has been some additional funding allocated to provincial governments to cover the national wage deal, but we will continue to fight for the entirety of the shortfall due to our residents,” he said.
Electricity provision and control of the province’s ports are the frontline in Winde’s tussle with the national government. A successful pilot project in Riversdale aims to make the Overberg town independent of the Eskom grid. Similar initiatives are planned for other municipalities. Devolution of power supply from national to provincial level could accelerate these projects, particularly as current legislation empowers municipalities to take charge of reticulation.
Energy experts believe provincial power autonomy, while attractive, would involve eyewatering costs due to the required infrastructure spending. “Yes, the province could be totally energy independent but it would cost,” said Nick Roche, chief product officer for technology group Rubicon. “The practical answer is that it would be quite challenging.”
On a personal note, Winde says as a diabetic, he is careful to manage his daily routine and is particularly mindful of diet and exercise. “This morning I should have been out very early on my bike. I try to do an early morning ride twice a week and a longer one on the weekend — 50km. It doesn’t always work out.”
We are the fastest growing province in South Africa. People are coming here from other failed systems to look for work