I spent part of my weekend doing something so you don’t have to: reading the DA’s entire local government manifesto.
I wanted to find out whether or not the DA is calling for privatisation of local government.
With the local government elections coming on 4 November, the DA is making the case that it can run municipalities better than the ANC. That’s not particularly surprising.
What is more interesting is how it plans to do it.
The manifesto proposes bringing private companies much more deeply into the delivery of water, electricity, waste management, infrastructure and even public safety.
Cue the P-word: privatisation.
The ANC has already jumped on it, accusing the DA of pushing a Thatcherite agenda. The DA says that’s not what it’s proposing at all. Municipalities would remain in control, it argues, while private companies provide services under strict contracts.
And somewhere between those two positions is a genuinely interesting debate.
Because South African municipalities are in trouble.
Many simply don’t have the money to repair ageing infrastructure, never mind build what growing cities need. Some aren’t financially healthy enough to borrow the money either.
So where does the money come from?
Political analyst, Piet Croucamp told me that private capital may eventually become less of an ideological choice and more of a practical necessity.
But politically, this is tricky territory for the DA.
Voters who are fed up with the ANC don’t necessarily want less government. They may just want government that works.
That’s the distinction I’m interested in.
This isn’t really a debate about whether business is good and government is bad, or vice versa.
It’s about what happens when the state is still responsible for delivering your water, electricity and basic services, but increasingly needs someone else to actually do it.
So, does the DA want to privatise local government?
Not quite.
But it definitely wants the private sector much closer to the engine room.
Watch the full episode on YouTube and let us know your thoughts.