It would appear that government is broken in this country. At all levels, national, provincial and local, governance is characterised by dysfunctionality, mismanagement and blatant corruption. Further, the system appears to be entrenching the gulf between the governed and the governors, with the ruling elite amassing untold influence and wealth with each passing day.
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Greed
While the crafters of our constitution may have had good intentions in creating the three tiers of government we have today, it is clear that they underestimated the impact of capacity constraints, the intentions of the ruling party, and sheer greed and opportunism would have.
The model also to an extent did not factor in the influence of a single political party dominating the governance landscape, resulting in the czars of the party calling the shots in terms of critical appointments in nearly every province and local authority until a few years ago.
Toxic
The result is that the political culture of the ruling elite is institutionalised across the country. Where this culture is positive in terms of promoting opportunities and the betterment of the populace, this can be a good thing. But where the culture at the top is toxic, then it can be anything but.
The prevalence of ‘state capture’ across the length and breadth of our country and institutions is evidence of this: the capture of the state was initiated and perfected at the very apex of our political system.
With the tentacles of state capture being slowly unwound through the various commissions and inquiries, one is optimistic that a new morality is slowly dawning for our country.
In this context, is it not time to consider a more ‘centrist’ approach to governance in the country?
While the liberalists might balk at this, pointing to the USA’s strongly decentralised state-based system being the cornerstone of its position as the leading economy in the world, it must be noted that this has been achieved over a hundred years or more. We are significantly politically immature in comparison.
Dysfunctional
The constitution currently allows for central government to take over the operations of dysfunctional provincial departments and local municipalities, and this has occurred in several instances across provinces.
Given the Auditor-General’s latest report revealing that over 90 percent of local municipalities failed to meet their governance and financial obligations, it is hard to dispute the perception that local government at the very least, is broken.
Oversight
Provincial departments of health and education almost universally seem unable to meet their delivery targets, and could no doubt benefit from central oversight and capacity.
Central government needs to adopt a more interventionist role to stem the rot, before there is a total collapse. Expect the loudest criticism to come not from those decrying the loss of independence, but those whose access to the ‘feeding trough’ that is corruption, being curtailed.
After matriculating, Vijay Naidoo studied Economics in the UK. Upon his return, he joined the family construction business as MD for 10 years.
He subsequently joined his sister in their furniture manufacturing business as director for quality assurance and operations. He was responsible for all quality aspects of their products, and led the project to the business achieving an ISO 9000 quality accreditation. As an export focused business, this was important for our international competitiveness.
Mr Naidoo has an abiding interest in quality management and productivity improvement, particularly in manufacturing.
More recently, he has focused a lot of his time on giving back to the community by way of mentorship of small businesses and sitting on the executive of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce. He also sits on the Board of the Ugu South Coast Development Agency.
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