After days of rumours and half-hearted denials, it’s now official: Richard Dyantyi, the ANC’s Western Cape local government and housing minister, has sent Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille a letter informing her that the ANC-run province intends changing the city’s management structure. The proposed change will abolish the executive mayor system and replace it with an executive committee, effectively stripping Zille of her powers and giving the ANC much more control over how the city is run.

This cynical abuse of the law is almost mind-boggling in its hypocrisy. Not only is there the farcical situation of an appointed local minister trying to get rid of a fairly-elected Mayor and calling it ‘democracy’, but it is blatantly obvious that this is nothing less than a vindictive move to strike back at the DA and deny it its electoral victory. It’s pathetic.

On a wider scale, what does this say about the mentality within the ANC as a whole and its approach to losing power? If it is content to behave in this way over Cape Town, just how exactly can we expect it to act once it is finally challenged at the national polls? Giving up control of the country is far more serious than giving up a city; will the ANC be willing to accept doing the former when it cannot handle the latter?

Fortunately, Dyantyi’s options are somewhat limited by current law, and there’s a very good chance that the courts will overturn this change if the ANC forces it through. It would certainly be a travesty of justice and absolute contempt for democracy if the ANC gets its way on this.