STATEMENT - PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI, DEMISE OF PROVINCES

August 28, 2006

The IFP notes with concern the media reports about the imminent demise of South Africa's nine provinces due to their apparent inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

The IFP will not support such plans whenever and wherever they come from.

We in the IFP have always believed that South Africa is simply too large a country to be administered as a unitary state. Indeed, it was the IFP's clarity of conviction which ensured that provinces were created in the first place.

We maintain that the current, three-tier system of governance comprising national, provincial and local arms of government suits our purpose best.

Not only does this quasi-federal model provide a fragile balance of power, it also preserves regional identities across our vast multi-cultural and multi-lingual territory. We must remember that South Africa's celebrated diversity is the sum of these many identities.

We in the IFP also believe that many of the perceived problems of governance at the provincial level are the result of work in progress. The fault does not lie with the system, but rather with its implementation.

We further believe that any debate about the future of South Africa's nine provinces must take place in a proper constitutional framework, and not behind closed doors as the currently circulating media reports are suggesting. Any changes to the existing system must stem from full public participation which this system strives to uphold.


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