Charles Molele
Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the new minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), has her work cut out for her in fixing dysfunctional municipalities in time for the 2022 Local Government Elections in less than 24 months.
According to political analysts, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Dlamini-Zuma to COGTA because she is widely seen as the most senior leader in both government and the party.
The former African Union (AU) Commission chair challenged Ramaphosa for the position of ANC president during the Nasrec elective conference but lost.
Ramaphosa, who consolidated his power-base within the party and government by appointing some of his close allies to strategic positions, knows very well that municipalities are at the centre of promoting economic growth in SA.
During President Jacob Zuma’s time as president, there were many adverse findings by the Auditor General on dismal financial management in the bulk of the country’s 278 municipalities.
Corruption and dysfunctionality was common in most municipalities, despite multiple strategic interventions by the governing party.
ANC insiders say with Dlamini-Zuma at the helm, Ramaphosa wants her to present to the party and government with a long-term plan on how to fix local government and regain municipalities which were lost during the Local Government Elections.
“The Back-to-Basic Strategy to fix local government has failed. Ramaphosa wants her to present a new, comprehensive plan on how to turn around local government before the 2021 Local Government Elections,” said the party insider.
Ramaphosa, according to the party insider, has also made it clear to Dlamini-Zuma that he wants to regain control over municipalities which were lost to the opposition parties in the past, which includes, invariably, City of Tshwane, Joburg, Nelson Mandela Bay and the City of Cape Town, currently under the Democratic Alliance.
“The ANC wants municipalities to have reliable water and energy supply, excellent road maintenance and refuse removal, maintenance of street-lights. These services are important for us as the governing party in order to restore the confidence of our people,” said the party insider.
Political observers say Dlamini-Zuma is not new local government issues.
Previously, Dlamini-Zuma was requested by Zuma to investigate allegations of irregularities in the list processes for councillors leading to up to the 2011 Local Government Elections.
She has also managed to turn around many government departments which were dysfunctional at the time, such Health, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.
The jury is still out on her performance at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but the majority of African leaders say she performed very well as Chairperson of the AU Commission and managed to bring stability to organization’s finances, assets and operations.
Dlamini-Zuma will be assisted by Parks Tau, the former Johannesburg mayor.
Ramaphosa appointed Tau as the deputy minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs during his Cabinet announcement.
Tau currently serves as the president of the SA Local Government Association and president of the United Nations-linked world body the United Local Governments (UCLG).
The second deputy minister of COGTA is Obed Bapela, who continues from the previous administration.
Ramaphosa also wants Dlamini-Zuma and COGTA to forge a closer cooperation between municipalities and labour by improving transport networks and integrated resi8dential, industrial and commercial developments.
“Ramaphosa also wants municipalities to drive innovation to improve service delivery. This is where Dlamini-Zuma comes in handy. Under her watch, the Home Affairs IT turnaround strategy saw the process of applying for official documents streamlined, to the point where it now takes less than two weeks to apply for and receive an ID or passport from Home Affairs. It was also under her that the Department of Home Affairs received its first unqualified audit in 16 years,” said a former departmental official who previously worked with Dlamini-Zuma. While it remains unclear on how she will turn-around COGTA, Dlamini-Zuma has proved on many occasions that she possesses a knack to get things done, and has the strategic leadership to turn-around even the most chaotic and poorly managed of departments.
