Reform not re-invention: South Africa's provincial government
In light of the sustained problems of mismanagement and corruption burdening South Africa's provincial authorities, many have called for these institutions to be scrapped entirely. This, argues William Gumede in this week's Pambazuka News, would be a step too far and likely to make matters worse. Far more important, Gumede contends, is the need to dismantle a culture of cronyism and political impunity. The provinces in fact need greater power, the author argues, but this must be under the authority of figures genuinely motivated by tackling poverty and creating jobs.
Given the pervasive corruption, mismanagement and lack of service delivery in most South African provinces, many have, not surprisingly, called for this sphere of government to be scrapped.
But is scrapping the provinces really the best solution? Firstly, we must not now again fall prey to the perennial South African policy-making weakness, whereby we, whenever an institution appears not to be working, scrap it, and create a new one, with, inevitably, new problems, problems which are sometimes even worse.
We must calculate whether it would not be easier, cheaper and more effective if we actually seriously try to make provincial governments, public services and leaders more accountable, versus creating a new giant central structure with the same deficiencies and blindingly hoping that it would by magic produce better results.
Furthermore, does the current national public service have the capacity to take on the additional burden of administrating the provinces? Are we not creating a new mountain of problems that will dwarf the current provincial shortcomings? Then there are the practicalities of creating a new central structure, establishing new reporting lines, procedures and offices, which alone may take years to complete. Service delivery may grind to a halt as energy, focus and priorities are concentrated on creating a new national structure.
Meanwhile, ordinary communities are restless across the country, demanding immediate improvements in service delivery. Furthermore, it is likely that the incorporation may be fiercely resisted across the provinces. This will in turn increase paralysis, which again will distract from focusing on service delivery. Is the proposal to close down the provinces – perhaps another attempt at taking the easy option – rather than confronting head-on the real problem of lack of delivery in the provinces, which surely must be the lack of accountability and capacity in provincial governments?
The perception is that very few of those in provincial government are actually going to be fired for mismanagement, corruption or incompetence – especially if they are politically connected – and that employment in many provinces is reserved for either those with the right ethnic background, right faction or right colour, rather than right level of competence. The reality is that the provinces have become patronage machines, rewarding friends and allies through government tenders, contracts and appointments.
This means that competent professionals of all colours with the skills won’t even apply for jobs, because they know they are not ‘connected’. Yet we appear to lack the courage to do not only the right and cheaper thing, to fire those who are responsible for mismanagement and corruption, even if they are our allies and friends, and to appoint those who we may disagree with politically and who come from a different background, but who have the skills that will help pull our people out of grinding poverty.
The problem also is that provinces do not have enough power. They are conveyer belts for policies from the centre. They have limited say over their budgets. They cannot even raise their own revenues, except through liquor licenses, casinos and traffic fines – one of the reasons for the proliferation of these. The provinces have little say in setting development priorities. In the Eastern Cape, there are massive retrenchments, but the province lacks innovative leadership, fresh ideas and the courage to come up, together with local business, civil society and communities, with an emergency provincial strategy to ease retrenchments, rescue closing plants and think of new kinds of job-creating opportunities.
The challenge is to bring fresh talent, skilled personnel and innovative minds into provincial government. The provincial civil services must be depoliticised and detribalised; political cronies or those from the same ethnic group of the provincial or national bosses without skills should not be appointed to critical jobs, and those already in these positions who fail must not protected simply because of their political or factional allegiances. These are hard political decisions to be made which need courage, because those that make them will become politically unpopular, but on balance they are cheaper and will bring better results.
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* This article first appeared in the Sowetan.
* William Gumede is author of Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.