A tender released by the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) prompts new questions about the government’s so-called District Development Model, and whether there lurks behind it an ulterior ANC purpose.
The DBSA says it has been appointed as an implementing agent for the District Development Model, which the bank describes as signifying a shift away from the “highly negotiated” system of planning between different spheres of government.
According to the official government line the District Development Model is only meant to improve cooperation between local, provincial, and national government.
But a “top secret” document unearthed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) last week proposes that the Model be repurposed as a way to centralise power in the hands of the national ANC government.
The document suggests the establishment of permanent Command Councils with decision-making power – a move that would impede the powers of elected local and provincial government.
The DBSA has now released a tender for professional service providers to compile One Plans for the OR Tambo and Waterberg District Municipalities in line with the District Development Model.
The OR Tambo and Waterberg Districts are among the municipalities where the District Development Model is meant to have been piloted since late last year, but no information has been released to the public about the lessons the government has learnt from the pilot.
Yet the DBSA tender says that the One Plans have to be ready for implementation by 12 February 2021, leaving the DA is to ask: what will the role of the public be in deciding whether this District Development Model actually works?
Judging by the scandals that have rocked the Covid-19 relief efforts of the OR Tambo District Municipality, whatever is being piloted there has only worsened municipal governance and service delivery.
The DA will be asking Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni – to whom the DBSA has a reporting line – to release documents given to it by the Department of Cooperative Governance on the District Development Model. We will also write to the DBSA.
We hope that these documents will reveal what has so far been hidden from the public, including whether there is evidence to justify going ahead with the District Development Model, or whether indeed the Model has anything to do with improving municipal governance and service delivery.
Click here to contribute to the DA’s legal action challenging irrational and dangerous elements of the hard lockdown in court