Mashatile said good audits mean little when residents in townships still face poverty and poor services.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has taken a swipe at the DA’s governance in the Western Cape, saying its model is not the best in the country.
Mashatile was addressing members of parliament during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly on Thursday.
DA’s governance ‘does not reflect lived experience’
Responding to written questions posed by EFF leader Julius Malema regarding a lack of improvement in municipal governance and whether he found that the Western Cape offered the best model, Mashatile gave an emphatic reply.
“While several municipalities in the Western Cape are doing well in terms of audit outcomes, it is important to note that there is a significant and persistent disparity between the well-being of many residents residing in townships and informal settlements of the province of the Western Cape,” Mashatile said.
“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 economic challenges.”
The deputy president said the DA had failed to address the legacy of apartheid’s spatial segregation.
He said the required optimal model is one that would “accommodate all individuals, regardless of their race or colour”.
Mashatile on Ramaphosa’s ‘copy the DA’ comments
Speaking on behalf of Malema, who was not in attendance, EFF MP Elsabe Natasha Ntlangwini asked Mashatile whether his statements meant he disagreed with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s previous eyebrow-raising comments about ANC councillors needing to learn from the DA.
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Ramaphosa had said they needed to ask themselves what the DA is doing that is better than what the ANC is doing in municipalities.
The president was quoted out of context, Mashatile said.
“His first emphasis was that councillors should learn from one another. That’s where he started.
“He then went on that he has come across this information that there are many municipalities in the Western Cape that have a clean audit. He says go and see what they are doing as well,” Mashatile said.
“But what he did not say was that the Western Cape is really the panacea for good governance and service delivery.”
Mashatile said he sees no signs of good governance when he visits townships like Khayelitsha.
It’s one thing to say you have a clean audit, Mashatile said, but its another if you are changing the lives of people for the better.
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‘I’ll give you zero for the work you are doing’
Defending his party’s governance in the Western Cape, DA MP James “JB” Lorimer said Cape Town had the largest provision of free electricity and water for indigent households in the country.
He alluded to Mashatile not knowing what to look for when assessing poor areas because he stays in upmarket luxury housing.
“So when you go to Khayelitsha, look at the electricity – which is supplied by the municipality, not by izinyoka (illegal electricity connections). Look at the taps, where, when you open them, water comes out. There are many tarred roads and there’s regular refuse removal,” Lorimer said.
He pressed Mashatile on which province he believed had the best model of municipal governance, if not the Western Cape.
“You are quite right, when I go to Camps Bay, water comes out of the tap; when I go to Khayelitsha it’s not the case,” Mashatile replied.
“We need to score the DA’s intervention. I’ll give you zero for the work you are doing. There is zero, completely zero,” he added.
He said he might score the DA six in Camps Bay, but not in areas like Bonteheuwel, Nyanga and Mitchell’s Plain.
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