Room to manoeuvre?: Premiers' keynote speeches in 1994 and 1999

Thabo Rapoo, CPS Policy Analyst

Policy: Issues and Actors Vol 13 (1), May 2000 Transition Series

T his study examines an evolving political phenomenon in post-apartheid South Africa: the speeches made by provincial premiers at the opening of provincial legislatures after general elections. These contain important provincial policy statements, and also show what the premiers themselves believe to be priorities for their provinces.

Under the current political system, it is theoretically possible for provincial governments to determine their own policies and priorities, independent of central government. However, the study finds that political leaders at subnational levels have not availed themselves of this opportunity.

It examines speeches delivered by provincial premiers in 1994, at the beginning of the Mandela presidency, and those delivered in 1999, at the beginning of the Mbeki presidency.

The Mandela era

The start of the Mandela presidency and the terms of office of the first provincial premiers rang in a new political era, characterised by political uncertainty; newly created and untested provincial institutions of governance; newly elected and inexperienced political leaders, particularly at the provincial level; and a dominant central government. The newly elected premiers had to deliver their first policy speeches in the face of overwhelming political, institutional and administrative constraints, and in the context of an unequal distribution of powers and resources between central government and the provinces.

Premiers addressed a wide range of issues; a sensitive issue they frequently raised was the pace at which central government was devolving constitutional powers and administrative responsibilities to the provinces. ANC and non-ANC premiers adopted different approaches to this issue. The two non-ANC premiers – KwaZulu-Natal's Frank Mdlalose and the Western Cape's Hernus Kriel -- were highly critical of national government, and impatient at the slow pace at which responsibilities were being transferred, and urgently demanded more powers.

Mdlalose in particular raised this issue in a very heated manner. The province was clearly prepared to assert its constitutional rights, and Mdlalose therefore devoted considerable attention to this issue.

ANC premiers, on the other hand, were more patient with the slow devolution of provincial powers. All the ANC premiers prioritised issues of inequality and social services backlogs among the poor.

At that stage, all the provinces faced common problems; they were newly created entities that lacked consolidated structures of governance, but faced enormous social backlogs at the same time. This suggests that the urgent demands for more powers were made for political rather than pragmatic reasons.

In a context of institutional and financial constraints that prevented the provinces from formulating and adopting their own policies, many premiers tended to look towards central government for leadership. Therefore, virtually all premiers, particularly ANC premiers, adopted the national framework laid down by the reconstruction and development programme, and spent a great deal of their early months in office reiterating RDP priorities to their supporters. Therefore, the dominant position of central government at that time formed the background against which the 1994 premiers had to make policy statements on behalf of their provinces. While, as noted earlier, numerous provinces faced common problems, some also experienced unique ones, and various premiers expressed different concerns and identified different priorities. In general, though, ANC premiers focused mainly on alleviating poverty, reducing apartheid inequalities, and so on. While the two non-ANC premiers also paid some attention to inequality, poverty relief and development, they concentrated more on the division of powers and functions between central government and the provinces, and the issue of political autonomy for the provinces and local governments. Kriel also paid considerable attention to issues surrounding minority rights.

Some ANC premiers also expressed concern over high levels of lawlessness, violence, crime, and the vandalism of state and private property, as well as the failure of many of their supporters to pay for services provided by the state. This was particularly true of Patrick Lekota of the Free State.

Generally, though, all the speeches displayed a lack of distinctive provincial policies formulated to address the unique challenges faced by individual provinces, and all the provinces had adopted policies formulated by central government by means of the RDP. This allowed the latter to become even more dominant in determining the policy agenda for the provinces. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that, in a range of sectors, powers had not yet been devolved to the provinces.

The Mbeki era

By 1999 the political context had changed significantly. Relatively stable institutions and processes of governance were in place. Numerous constitutional disputes between the centre and the provinces had been resolved; a new constitution was in place; the NCOP had replaced the senate; and a relatively coherent system of intergovernmental relations had been established. In addition, most provincial premiers were re-elected, which meant they could draw on their previous experience.

The context in which the 1999 premiers made their policy speeches was dominated by the central government's macro-economic Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy, which imposed considerable policy constraints on all the provinces. This meant that there was even less room for manoeuvre at subnational levels. Virtually all the premiers reiterated Mbeki's call for accelerated service delivery. Unlike in 1994, when an entirely new set of social programmes had to be introduced, these speeches contained familiar commitments on education, health, HIV/AIDS, rural development and so on. The differences were ones of emphasis rather than substance. Most speeches were devoid of the sloganeering and political rhetoric of 1994, and were more focused on concrete policy issues.

As in 1994, numerous premiers raised issues of regional concern. Many paid attention to issues of transformation and accelerated service delivery. The issue of corruption was more prominent than in 1994, when few premiers alluded to it. In addition, a clear shift in focus was noticeable in several speeches. Unlike in 1994, when the focus was mainly on eliminating inequality and extending the provision of social services to formerly disadvantaged social groups, premiers now paid more attention to the quality of these services and how efficiently they were being delivered by various government agencies.

There were still differences of approach between non-ANC and ANC premiers; the two non-ANC premiers, particularly KwaZulu-Natal's Lionel Mtshali, once again raised constitutional issues, particularly those relating to provincial powers and functions. However, Mtshali was less confrontational than his predecessor. Gerald Morkel of the Western Cape devoted much of his speech to defending the NP/DP coalition government in the province, and attacked the ANC and its allies for opposing it. ANC premiers in general played down or ignored controversial and divisive political issues such as provincial powers and functions, and access to adequate fiscal resources. Nevertheless, the central concern of all the 1999 premiers was accelerated service delivery – a concern emphasised by central government.

As noted earlier, GEAR had come to play a significant role in prescribing priorities to the provinces; therefore, the premiers paid considerable attention to Mbeki's opening speech at parliament and the goals to which he had committed himself. He had focused on accelerated service delivery and the effective implementation of government policies, and the premiers did much the same.

As a result, their policy statements were very similar, not only to those of their fellow premiers but also to those of central government spokespersons. Ultimately, it showed that provinces were still deferring to central government.

Conclusion

The main objective of this study was to examine to what extent the premiers' speeches in 1994 and 1999 reflected local priorities and concerns rather than those of central government. It found that the 1994 speeches did not provide conclusive evidence of autonomous policy-making at the provincial level. They showed that central government was taking the lead in determining the policy agenda, making major policy choices and determining national priorities with which other spheres of government had to comply.

It also found that this situation had not changed much by 1999; if anything, the dominant role of central government in policy-making at the national and provincial levels seemed to have become even more pronounced.