DA ‘scoring points with revenue bill’

THE ANC accused the Western Cape government of political point-scoring after it petitioned President Cyril Ramaphosa over the constitutionality of the 2020 Division of Revenue Second Amendment Bill.

After being passed by Parliament at the end of last month, the bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces, with six of the country’s nine provinces in favour. The Western Cape opposed it, while Limpopo and Free State abstained.

Following through on the opposition to the bill, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said: “Premier Alan Winde and I submitted a Section 79 petition to President Ramaphosa to bring to his attention material concerns over the constitutionality of certain aspects of the bill, which was passed by Parliament on Thursday, November 26.

“If brought into law by the president’s assent, the bill will infringe on the ability of the provinces to comply with their current contractual and legal obligations to all their employees, and will impact on provincial revenue allocations in an unlawful and unconstitutional manner.”

According to the Constitution, Section 79 kicks in after Parliament has presented a particular bill to the president. If the president assents to a bill it is converted into an Act of Parliament.

However, if he has reservations about the constitutionality of a bill, he may decline to assent to it and send it back to the National Assembly for reconsideration.

ANC provincial spokesperson on Finance, Nomi Nkondlo, said: “To the DA every challenge faced by the country presents an opportunity to play politics. This exercise is purely a political point-scoring exercise.

“The reasons for the public sector wage freeze were given by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, and affected all provinces, not only the Western Cape.

“If the concern is genuinely about the province’s ability to comply with wage agreements, then all provinces have provincial reserves and contingency budgets for emergencies.

“The DA’s strategy for the 2021 elections relies heavily on political law-fare. Not long ago they challenged the auditor- general’s findings in court. If the DA wants to control national coffers, it must get a mandate from the voters.”