Zille slams Government over Green Paper

By Khanyisa Tabata
21 May 2010

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has slammed government over the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs draft Green Paper.

Zille says in her weekly news letter the policy proposals are a thinly disguised attempt to centralise the ANC’s power. She says it aims to undermine opposition parties’ progress at local and provincial level.

The document calls for a single election for national, provincial and local government. Zille says this will deprive people of the right to vote for the party of their choice at local level.

“The draft Green Paper seems innocuous enough at first glance. But, as I will make clear, if it becomes the policy of government, it will deal a serious body blow to our constitutional and democratic order.

“The Green Paper correctly acknowledges the appalling state of service delivery and admits that government has serious capacity and coordination problems. It talks of the need for increased accountability and bemoans wasteful expenditure by the state, said Zille.

Zille adds that this happened in the ANC’s repeated attempts to derail the City of Cape Town when the DA-led governing coalition took power in 2006.

“It is something we warned about before the last election, when the 17th Constitution Amendment Bill, designed to undermine the powers of municipalities, as well as the power of voters at local government level, first emerged,” said Zille.