Would Parliament’s relocation to Pretoria yield good results?
Consideration must be given to separation of executive, legislative and judiciary powers
THE case against Zandile Mafe on allegations of torching the Parliament building in Cape Town has helped resuscitate an age-old debate on where the country's executive power should be based.
A public discourse that has been etched for years in the minds of politicians, civil society activists and the public at large has now found new expression in the middle of Parliament's arson case that has shocked all and sundry.
This calamity made me revisit an age-old political science lesson at the University of Fort Hare that tried to justify the unbundling of the executive, judiciary, and the legislature into separate but mutually-synergised entities.
The trias politica model says that the rule of law must be divided into three separate powers.
This means that the consigning of the legislative, executive and judiciary powers of the government are in separate bodies.
It implies that each body of state has its own separate, independent powers and responsibilities.
The reason for this division of state power is that there can be no political freedom in a country where one and the same person or body of persons makes the laws, implements them, and acts as the judge when they are contravened.The trias politica model fits well with the South African leftist sovereign state that values a system entrenched in freedom of expression, community development, and observation of human rights that are based on progressive legislative reforms and cosmopolitan internationalism.
These novelties are mostly derived from the trivialities and difficulties of the political past and the history of the country.
South Africa as a country is riding on a wave that wants to see its people flow along the tide of social, economic and political freedoms which are the salient building blocks of a sovereign state. This includes the rule of law, whereby the facets of governance are shared and distributed independently and equally.
South Africa's trias politica powers are spread over three cities with the legislature seating in Parliament in Cape Town, the executive in the Union Buildings in Pretoria and the judiciary in Mangaung.
While we are in favour of the idea of relocating the legislature to Pretoria on a permanent basis due to the unavailability of Parliament as a result of being torched, will the relocation yield good results?
Is the relocation not going to interfere with the trias politica model of unbundling the powers of state by having the legislature and the executive in one city? What impact will that have in the process of governance?
Politicians, more especially the EFF, see the burning of Parliament as a serendipitous blessing in disguise to finally move Parliament to Pretoria.
They have been advocating for this move to happen and the gods are somewhat smiling on them.
The burning of Parliament has given this debate more traction, so to speak.
However, the naysayers are asking if this was really was a coincidence, or was there foul play in burning Parliament to ignite debate to ultimately move it to Pretoria? Whether this is true, is a topic for another day.
Truly speaking, moving the legislature to Pretoria may be beneficial and possibly cost-effective for the state.
Having the legislature in Cape Town and the executive in Pretoria have doubled government spending.
For example, if the two powers of state are in one city, the process of lawmaking will be streamlined.
This will mean that all the ministerial tasks that were performed in Cape Town will be done in Pretoria, and the budget that was used to finance the Cape Town offices can be channelled elsewhere and also finance service delivery.
All heads of executive departments are based in Pretoria, and this will allow the process of passing bills into acts more efficient, and the government oversight issues will be coherent because all the portfolio committees will be based in Pretoria.
This will put to an end the undesirable sojourns of ministers having to go to Parliament to account. Therefore, it makes eco-political sense for the legislature office in Cape Town to move to Pretoria.
Conversely, many argue that the move will cripple the City of Cape Town financially, but it is important to note that the city has always been punted as a tourist destination because it holds great historical significance, more especially considering the fact that Table Mountain was nominated to become one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
This attracts both local and international tourists, therefore, Cape Town will still continue to contribute immensely to the country's economy.