Well-deserved congratulations to Docrra on a Best of Ballito award for top civic organisation and for the valuable work it continues to do in safeguarding our community’s interests.

That said, I would like to share some concerns over and comments/questions on a recent Docrra submission that has been made in response to a Government White Paper on a review of local level governance.

Only after their submission did Docrra then invite its members to comment. It would have been preferable had this preceded the submission. Although too late to be considered, on 24/7/25 I did send some comments/questions, but I have yet to receive any feedback.

Adding to this flaw in the process of democratic decision making, the White Paper submission has also not been placed in the Courier, ie, the purpose of doing so would be to keep the broader community at large informed on what are significant and consequential recommendations on improving local governance.

Below are my comments and questions based on some of the highlights in the submission that Docrra sent to members:

• “Merit” appointments to executive positions in the public service: does Docrra see merit going together with affirmative action measures, so acknowledging the need to address the devastation caused by our apartheid history?

• Scrapping current “cumbersome” consultation systems and replacing them with ‘Sectoral End User’ forums: is there a real risk of excluding the poorer people in under serviced areas (ie, the majority of the population), who tend to be the least organised and active members of our local community, so undermining the constitutional rights of these already marginalised people?

• Creation of differentiated zones, the first zone being “resourced Economic Cantons”, run by “private sector managed precincts”. The second being “Developmental Zones” covering “rural and small-town districts”: firstly, what do these definitions actually mean? Secondly, could this result in enclaves of richer people looking after just themselves to the exclusion of the wider populace, so resulting in a starker rich/poor divide? Thirdly, the large majority of Ballito’s population live in nearby surrounding peri-urban areas, so where do they fit in?

No man is an island. ‘I’m alright Jack’ has not and cannot work. The inevitable consequence is further, and more dangerous, social instability.

Docrra deputy-chair, Brian Pottinger, responds:

The public submissions to the White Paper Review are only the first steps in a long process in which Docrra will again have opportunities to make representations to the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). We will of course bear the concerns of Mr Anthony Kruger in mind.

In answer to Mr Kruger’s specific queries:

The Docrra submission proposes appointments to local government posts be made on merit, irrespective of ethnic, racial, religious or gender considerations. It further suggests the minister seeks temporary exemptions from the terms of the relevant empowerment statutes in key sectors of local government. The intention is to stem the catastrophic destruction of administrative capacity in the public sector brought about by the Government’s current “empowerment” policies and their accompanying crony and cadre deployments.

The proposal that cumbersome consultation systems be replaced by Sectoral End User forums does not aim to marginalise poor communities: the reverse. It offers representatives of all communities more clean-channel access to key administrative officials who have direct influence over their daily lives.

Similarly, the proposal for differentiated zones echoes what has been widely acknowledged by the Government itself. One-Size Fits-All options simply do not work. Our proposal suggests resourced communities be asked to take a greater control of their communities so as to enable the public sector to devote more attention to less resourced ones. To this end we have also proposed the creation of professionalised District Service Entities to support small rural local authorities. The delimitations of such zones is obviously a subject for future analysis.

It is widely accepted that South Africa’s local government system is failing. Docrra’s submission proposes a range of interventions to create stable, sustainable and credible local authorities to serve the Dolphin Coast communities, including the poorest, many of whom are represented through Docrra affiliated organisations.

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