Conundrum for order in the House

Given the chaotic scenes in the House at the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, the past few weeks, it is clear there is no authority that demands the order.

For the DA they would not only need a suitable Speaker-candidate but there is also the vacant Chief Whip-position. A vacancy contributing to all the drama in the House. Even though there is an Acting Chief Whip, with all the powers and priveleges, it is still acting.

It might appear as if the DA is sitting with a conundrum in filling the vacancies, but within the caucus there are indeed members capable of stepping into the shoes.

Presiding Officer

First prize would be someone who has occupied the hot seat and for that reason Sharna Fernandez would be a good choice.

If continuity and stability is considered the DA might look towards Wendy Philander, one of three current rotating House Chairs. Interestingly most of the time when she presided over sittings the opposition has been friendly towards her and she has been lenient towards the opposition, giving them more attention.

A wild card who could attract alot of criticism but is capable is Andricus van der Westhuizen, this might not be an option the party will consider.

An option the DA would want to consider is Daylin Mitchell, who did well as Deputy Chief Whip. Since his transport and public works ministry was modernized to mobility, he now only condemns public transport incidents and after each road (transport) accident he issues condolences.

Whippery

Daylin Mitchell could also return to the Whippery as Chief Whip. This might also be more accepting for the rest of the caucus, he once served as deputy chair.

I've previously written that a strong candidate, who has the knowledge, to be Chief Whip is Andricus van der Westhuizen. In the position he can use the fact to being one of the older members in the House to get respect and maintain order. 

Should Wendy Philander, who is also DA Women's leader in the province, not be presiding officer she could be considered to maintain order amongst members. Another female and for continuity would be Deidre Baartman, current Deputy Chief Whip.

First prize for the DA would be the party's Federal Chairperson, Ivan Meyer. He is a former chief director of provincial training, lecturer in public policy and local governance and has published work on education, housing, local government and public administration.

Should Fernandez, Mitchell or Meyer vacate the executive, it is highly unlikely Premier Alan Winde will make major changes. He will most probably just fill the vacancy with either Philander or Dan Plato.

The position of Chief Whip become vacant after the sad passing on of Lorraine Botha, in August.

By end November the position of Speaker of the Western Cape Legislature became vacant, on a point of technicality when Masizole Mnqasela's political party membership was terminated. This resulted in him losing his seat as member of the legislature, thus creating the Speaker vacancy.

Mnqasela indicated to his now former party he will approach the courts to reinstate his party membership. This and the fact that he was not removed as Speaker is no reason for the House not to elect a new Speaker.

2019: status quo vs. change to unite

 On Monday 6 November 2017 the governing party in the second largest municipality – and thus biggest constituency – in the province elects a new leadership.

This internal election is the first since the 2016 local government election. Following that election the party not only became the first political party to win a consecutive local government election in Drakenstein, but also increased their vote with nearly 10%.  

In 2016 the DA increased their support in the Paarl East – coloured – area, especially Chicago, Amstelhof, Nederburg, Denneburg. The DA also took two ANC stronghold wards, Gouda and Simondium with 60 and 62% respectively. It however did not show any major increase in so-called “white-areas”. In Wellington the DA’s support took a dip in most of the wards.

Above statistics are important if one considers the candidates contesting the internal election. Both candidates for chairperson are from the Paarl-East area, while those standing for deputy are from Wellington and Northern-Paarl. Two of the candidates vying for secretary are from Mbekweni and the other from Paarl-East. The treasurer position is the only uncontested position and incumbent, Gert Combrink – who also happens to be the DA West Region Treasurer – will return for another term.

There appears to only be one slate, with all other candidates campaigning as individuals. Considering the 2016 outcome and party’s targets for 2019, the expectation is that the party would focus at having a more diverse team on local level, representing all the areas of the Constituency. For some time now the DA’s been trying to make inroads in Mbekweni. Having two of three candidates for a position from the area will most likely split the votes from Mbekweni. Two of the three standing for secretary are former activist and first time councillors and the third a former ANC Councillor, with more political experience than her competitors. My expectation from any secretary is also to atleast be able to spell or use spell-checker. From her campaign post though it would appear as if this is a weakness of one of the candidates – she even managed to get the names and titles wrong of those on her slate.

The competition for deputy chairperson is between a “veteran” and an activist. What delegates might want to consider is where the two candidates campaigned during the 2016 local elections, the DA’s support dropped in the area the one campaigned and increased in the area the other one campaigned. Both seem committed to the cause; just one is on a slate and the other not. And that will either turnout to be good or bad.

Perhaps important to remind oneself the DA believes in freedom, fairness and opportunity. It also preaches separation of party and state. Some examples are during Helen Zille’s term as party leader in Parliament Sandra Botha, Athol Trollip, Lindiwe Mazibuko and Mmusi Maimane occupied the role of Parliamentary Leader (Leader of the Official Opposition).
In the Western Cape with Helen Zille leading the provincial government, Theuns Botha, Ivan Meyer, Patricia de Lille and Bonginkosi Madikizela was party leader.

In the City of Cape Town Helen Zille, Dan Plato and Patricia de Lille led the local government, while Grant Pascoe, Shaun August and now Grant Twigg led the party in the metro.

The race for Chairperson is always interesting, and it becomes even more interesting when one of the candidates is a woman. 

Note despite Helen Zille’s successful tenure as party leader, the DA has not exactly broken the glass ceiling for woman leaders in the party. 

Delegates will have to vote between incumbent Chairperson, Conrad Poole, and outgoing Secretary, Wendy Philander.

I have the privilege to have gotten to known both candidates – both caring individuals, who want to make the world better. Both I gotten to know before they became councillors, ironically ward councillors. I saw the election of Conrad during a by-election and Wendy in 2011. During their term as ward councillors both worked hard and people of their wards still hold them in high regard – because both continue to work hard for the people they serve.

Both candidates have used each opportunity that crossed their path.

Wendy, current DA Women’s Network Chairperson, was also part of a Swedish exchange program for woman in local government – something I still think Drakenstein should, but they not, use to their advantage. She served one term on the executive mayoral committee, in the key portfolio of housing.

Conrad was recently elected as DA West Region Deputy Chairman and on the provincial executive as additional member. He’s in his third term as councillor and current executive mayor.

Conrad’s campaign is based on the success of the party under his leadership. The party grew from receiving 32% of the vote in 2006 to 66% in 2016, not without teething problems.

Wendy’s campaign is based on the party’s mission of Freedom, Fairness & Opportunity, creating a platform to develop the next generation, making progress together.

Doing research for this blog it became evident that the party is very much divided. This week DA founder Helen Suzman would have celebrated her centenary. Will Drakenstein’s gift to her be that the status quo is enough to carry the party to 2019 or will the party heading towards 2019, change; unite and develop to increase its support?

DA Drakenstein's challenge

Now that the #2016MunicipalElection is all done, the hard work starts.

One of the first tasks of newly constituted councils is electing the top officials – Executive Mayor, Deputy Executive Mayor, Speaker and who will act if the number one and two is unable to.

While we knew before we made our X who the Mayoral Candidates were, we could only speculate on the other positions. Many looked at the PR [Proportional Representation] list and viewed that as an indication. It is however not a prescribed guideline of how the executive should be chosen and that duty rest upon the majority caucus, guided by the local and provincial party political leadership.

This is widely a follow-up to Drakenstein’s surprises and disappointments. This piece is zooming in on the governing party in Drakenstein.

Despite the DA having a male Mayor-elect, majority of their caucus will be females. What makes it more interesting is that that more than half of the 26 wards the party won, was won by females: an indication that even the voter think the party has competent female leaders. The party also increased its support in the predominantly coloured areas. The above are all things the party cannot ignore.

Our eyes should be on how the new caucus approach gender equality. Only five of the former Executive Mayoral Committee members are returning to council. And only one of them is female. Thus safe to assume Wendy Philander will again be part of Mayco. Comparing to her colleagues she did exceptionally well in her first term in council and not only topped the DA Drakenstein PR list [considering the DA said they reserve the number one position for their Mayoral Candidates], but she also twice appeared on the DA’s Provincial List for the Western Cape Legislature, currently on number two.

One can thus assume she is DA’s most senior female leader in Drakenstein. It would thus be interesting to see if the party reckons she performed well and should she not be in the top 3 to explain why she was not considered. Having said this we can also safely assume the party would re-elect DA-stalwart Koos le Roux as Speaker. In his first term he oversee a council without any incidents and council meetings were calm and peaceful, with respect.

That is not the party’s only challenge, composition of the new Executive Mayoral Committee might also be a headache for Mayor-elect, Conrad Poole. 

Of the 26 councillors 19 are returning with 6 having experience of Mayco – one of them in a District council. As mentioned in Drakenstein Surprises it is a given that Linda Landu who defected from the ANC to the DA would be rewarded with a Mayco seat. 

Would be interesting to see what portfolio she is given. Before I get to my Mayco speculations – or ideal Mayco – I would first restructure the portfolio’s and align it to the needs of the community but also based on services the municipality should be providing.

I would structure the ten portfolios as:

Community Services	Housing & Rural Development
Utility Services	Social Development
Safety and Security	Economic Opportunities
Planning & Environmental Affairs	Corporate Services
Inter-Governmental Relations & Communications	Finances

Furthermore I would propose that committees be structured as:

+ Finance

+ Planning & Economic Development [Planning & Environmental Affairs, Economic Opportunities, Housing & Rural Development]

+ Corporate Affairs [Corporate Services, IGR & ICT]

+ Infrastructure Development [Utility Services]

+ Community Development [Community Services, Safety & Security, Social Development]

Because I don’t view Housing, Economic Opportunities and tourism as a service that is just delivered but one that needs constant planning and development I structure it under the Planning and Economic Development Portfolio Committee.

My Executive speculation:

Portfolio	Speculation	Alternative
Community Service	Aidan Stowman	Eva Gouws
Utility Services	Reinhardt van Nieuwenhuyzen	N/a
Safety & Security	Rean Smuts	N/a
Planning & Environmental Affairs	Jako Matthee	Wilhelmina Smit
Housing & Rural Development	Wendy Philander	Rita Andreas
Social Development	Eva Gouws	Aidan Stowman
Economic Opportunities	Wilhelmina Smit	Jako Matthee
Corporate Services	Jo-Ann De Wet	N/a
Finance	Gert Combrink	N/a
IGR & Communication	Linda Landu	Wendy Philander

Speaker	Koos le Roux	Wendy Philander
Deputy Mayor	Wendy Philander	Koos le Roux
Chief Whip	Ben de Goede	Renier Koegelenberg