The Democratic Alliance (DA) will today vote in favour of the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill in the National Assembly.
If passed into law the bill will prohibit all municipal officials from holding elected or appointed office in a political party.
The 2011 Municipal Systems Amendment Act, which the bill will replace, had a similar political office ban. But the ban only applied to municipal managers and their direct reports.
Section 71B of this bill goes much farther, and the SA Local Government Association (SALGA) deserves credit for advocating the extension of the ban.
We believe that the bill represents a victory in the fight against the ANC policy of cadre deployment, a practice that has destroyed the service delivery capacity of many municipalities.
Restrictive employment practices such as cadre deployment have shrunk the pool of talent available to municipalities.
While the DA is not under the delusion that the political office ban will end cadre deployment in municipalities overnight. But it will nudge parties and municipalities in the right direction.
The political office ban will also set a precedent for the rest of the public service to follow.
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