This bizarre exchange began just under two years ago. As NDZ and her department prepared to introduce the new District Development Model, changing the way municipalities were run in the future, she was quizzed about the location of SA’s administrative centre.
At the time, however, she deferred – and told the House that the information ‘would be submitted as soon as possible’.
In a DA Parly written Q&A to the GOGTA MINISTER, Dlamini-Zuma, who oversees municipalities was asked to state in which municipality the capital city of SA can be found. Her response was: “the information requested by the Hon Member will be submitted as soon as it is available”.
— Gusso 7 (@Gusso7) June 26, 2020
Well, for those desperately clinging on to find out how far Dlamini-Zuma’s geography knowledge stretches, your reward is here. NDZ was yesterday prompted to answer the question initially posed during our first-ever lockdown – and she got it right…
- Question from the Western Cape DA:
“When will a substantive response be expected to Question 220 that was published on Friday, 5 June 2020 which she has not yet replied to?”
- Reply from Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma:
“The Capital City of the Republic of South Africa is Pretoria, which is located within the Municipality of City of Tshwane.”
To be fair to Dlamini-Zuma, this question isn’t as easy as it would be in other countries. Technically speaking, South Africa has three capital cities. Cape Town is seen as the ‘legislative capital’, and Bloemfontein is the designated ‘judicial capital’.
The minister, however, went for the administrative capital city, successfully identifying it as Pretoria. This light-hearted exchange has amused many in Parliament, and the DA’s NCOP spokesperson George Michalakis has also chimed in with his two-cents…
“Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has finally found the capital city of South Africa, almost two years after she had no clue and failed to come back with an answer to a parliamentary question submitted by the DA.”
“We hope that Minister Dlamini-Zuma’s study of South Africa’s geography in the past two years has opened her eyes to the countless municipalities in the country that are currently crippled under ANC rule as Tshwane was, back in June 2020.”
George Michalakis