DA is taking wrong turn blaming central government for water crisis

The drought crisis in the Western Cape is coming to a head. Day Zero is approaching fast.

As the crisis is deepening, the spotlight is squarely on the DA-led provincial government and municipal management. This is the first real test of the DA's governance proficiency at a large scale.

And in the lead-up to the elections next year, voters should judge the party on how it manages this crisis.

Being the party in government means taking responsibility not only for successes but for disasters, errors and mismanagement. This is the message that the DA in opposition in the rest of the country constantly sends to the ANC.

Ironically, as the DA has undertaken to arrest the effects of the drought and to emerge with a workable strategy to mitigate any future occurrence of similar water shortages, it has thrown the blame around.

In a recent interview with the SABC's Morning Live, Western Cape premier Helen Zille put the blame on the doorstep of the national government, asserting that even while she was mayor of Cape Town and now as premier she and her party have taken the right steps and made the right noises. Their efforts were stymied by the ANC.

The DA has developed a penchant for blaming the ANC for everything that goes wrong in the country.

It may have escaped the DA that the ANC is not in government in the Western Cape. It is the official opposition. Thus, accountability for the effective or poor management of the province's water crisis does not rest with the ANC, but with the DA.

Zille has made hay of the constitutional provisions on co-operative governance. Her government relies heavily on the argument that the constitution is clear on the different roles that each level of government is to play.

It is true that ultimate responsibility for the provision of bulk water lies with national government.

However, the management of the water system rests on municipalities. Cape Town is a DA-run municipality.

This blame shifting by the DA exposes a narrow reading on their part of the principles of co-operative governance provided in the constitution.

Making government work in a system of co-operative governance as envisioned by our constitution is not just about marking and guarding turfs. It is more about fostering co-operation rather than taking hard positions.

The DA in government has acted very much like the DA in opposition, unable to distinguish from the skills and strategies necessary to govern successfully in a system of co-operative governance from those necessary to be effective opposition.

Since the DA took power, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape have sought to differentiate and in some instances distance themselves from the national sphere controlled by the ANC. It was to be expected the DA would use winning the metro and the province as a campaign ticket. Contrasting its government to the governance in the rest of the country is a huge part of that strategy.

What has been lost is that governing is not one big campaign. It is a difficult task. Nothing should make this clearer to the DA than the water crisis.

Overcoming this crisis requires, as the constitutional principles of co-operative governance also outline in section 41 (1) h, each sphere of government to co-operate with one another in good faith by fostering friendly relations, assisting, supporting, informing, consulting one another, and co-ordinating their actions.

The eventuality of having different parties governing at the different levels of government is likely to continue to be a common feature of our government system. This is all the more reason that all parties need to be mature enough to embrace the tenets of co-operative governance and understand that when in government, they exist to promote and secure the well-being of society. That should be more important than any partisan rivalries.