The local leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has resigned from his post because he feels that the council should be nominated by residents, not by political parties.
Jock McConnachie says he resigned from leading the party because he believes local government should be “depoliticised”.
The local leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has resigned from his post because he feels that the council should be nominated by residents, not by political parties.
Jock McConnachie says he resigned from leading the party because he believes local government should be “depoliticised”.
For him, this would be a way of opening up local government as candidates will not be nominated by their parties but by the community at large.
“Candidates would represent the interests of the community and not those of political parties,” he said. “There’ll be no mayoral committees taking decisions [on behalf of the council.”
He emphasised the need for an open council which makes decisions that will benefit the whole community and not only the dominant political party or parties.
“The mayor would be elected by the council and not by a political party.” McConnachie, who will still remain a DA member, noted that South Africa did not use the party-based local government system until 1996 and argued that there is a need to go back to that system.
“There’ll be no party caucuses influencing councillors on how to vote on issues,” he continued. “None of the excessive and wasteful expenditure.”
He emphasised that his comments are not an attack on any political party but a positive contribution towards attaining an effective local government.
He believes that a lot of time is spent on political parties attacking each other. “Local government is purely about delivering services to the people, it’s not rocket science,” he said.
The DA acknowledged McConnachie’s resignation with regret asserting that he wants to pursue a vision of local politics incompatible with current electoral arrangements.
“We are most appreciative of the enormous efforts which he has put into the organisation of the recent election campaigns, at no small cost to himself, as well as to his principled involvement in other issues of great local importance,” the DA said in a press statement.
The party wished him well in his efforts to make Grahamstown a “great place to be” and said that it hopes he will eventually be able to bring his talents back to a co-ordinated campaign to bring the municipality under a management chosen entirely on merit and committed to the best interests of all.
The current leadership of the party is chairman Les Reynolds, Michael Whisson (caucus leader) and Xolani Madyo, the secretary.
Whisson commented that the Electoral Act provides for half the local councillors to be chosen by the registered political parties and elected through proportional representation.
This means that, even if they were to win every ward seat, independents would only constitute half the council.
