No DA good governance in townships, informal settlements in the Western Cape, says Mashatile

The Western Cape’s municipal governance model is not the best in the country as it fails to address the legacy of apartheid, especially segregation, says Deputy President Paul Mashatile.

The optimal model that was required was the one that would accommodate all individuals, regardless of their race or colour, he said.

Mashatile was responding during a question-and-answer session on Thursday when he was asked by EFF leader Julius Malema what he found to be the reasons that there have been no notable improvements in governance in some municipalities since he assumed he implemented rapid response interventions on service delivery and trouble-shooting service delivery hotspots.

Malema also asked whether he had found that municipalities in the Western Cape offered the best model for municipal governance than elsewhere in the country.

Malema’s questions were a sequel to controversial comments President Cyril Ramaphosa made during the ANC’s recent roll call, where he lauded the DA-controlled municipalities as examples of good governance.

Mashatile said Ramaphosa was quoted out of context.

“But you know, the media has got its own way of reporting. They are only focused on this issue, giving an impression that our president was praising the DA that was not the case.”

He maintained that Ramaphosa had emphasised to the ANC councillors the need to learn from one another.

“He did not say was that the Western Cape is really the panacea for good governance and service delivery, and everything he was focusing on clean audits, by the way, in some of the municipalities that have clean audits are not necessarily in the Western Cape.

“But the president was saying, as you get an experience of learning from one another, also look at the Western Cape as well.”

Mashatile said there was no good governance at all in townships and informal settlements in the Western Cape.

“I don't see the good governance at all. So it's one thing to say you've got a clean audit, but it's one thing if you are changing the lives of people for the better, and that's really where we must focus.”

The deputy president insisted that while several municipalities in the Western Cape were doing well in terms of audit outcomes, there was a significant and persistent disparity between the well-being of many residents residing in townships and informal settlements of the Western Cape.

“Although the province is often recognised for strong financial governance, overall, this does not reflect the lived experience of many black communities who continue to struggle with social and economic challenges,” he said before expressing his wish to invite Malema to go with him on a visit to Khayelitsha.

In a follow-up question, DA MP James Lorimer said the City of Cape Town supplied Khayelitsha with water, tarred roads, and refuse removal.

“In fact, Cape Town has the largest provision of free electricity and water for indigent households in the country,” he said.

Lorimer asked Mashatile which province had the best model of municipal governance, if it was not the Western Cape.

Instead of answering direct questions, Mashatile said he would score the DA, which governs the province, zero for services in Khayelitsha.

“I'll give you zero for the work you are doing, completely zero. Maybe in Camps Bay, I may give you six,” he said.

When there was a complaint that Mashatile had not answered the direct question, National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza said the parliamentary rules say the person asked the question must answer, but not how they must answer.

“I've always assisted you to remind members of the executive about the core question, similarly, as I remind you, members, when sometimes you veer off the original question in your supplementary question,” Didiza said.

She had earlier pointed out to ANC MC MP Phumelele Ndamase when he asked a supplementary question that deviated from Malema’s original question.

When Didiza asked the deputy president which province has the best-run municipalities, Mashatile said: “It certainly is not the Western Cape.”