It is widely acknowledged that the rapid and wide ranging capture of key government departments and state owned enterprises (SOE’s) to facilitate their grand scale looting was aided and abetted by public service officials and technocrats either willingly, or in thrall to their political masters.

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The daily revelations being unearthed by the Zondo Commission and the enquiry into the Public Investment Corporation reveal the damage that has been wrought on critical institutions in the country. It is arguable that had the cadre of public servants acting as gatekeepers at these institutions been of a higher ethical or professional fibre, the machinations of the perpetrators of the state capture project would have been dramatically impeded. In his State of the Nation address of 20

June 2019, President Ramaphosa implicitly acknowledges the shortcomings of the incumbents in saying ‘We want a corps of skilled and professional public servants of the highest moral standards…’

Apart from State capture, the dismal state of service delivery and finances at most levels of government, but particularly at the local level can, and has been directly linked to the qualifications and experience of departmental officials and line managers.

Of course, even where competent and qualified managers are appointed, they are often placed under unbearable pressure by their political masters to either bend or break the rules.

As the Ethics Institute reveals in a recent research report‘….political pressure was the No 1 reason why policies and procedures were bypassed’

It is evident then, that an urgent transformation of the public service is long overdue. Some of the non-negotiable aspects of this transformation must include:

 An end to indiscriminate cadre deployment by the ruling party

 Re-establishment of the boundaries between politicians and officials

 Effective protection and grievance reporting channels for public officials

 Punitive consequence management for those that break the rules

The creation of an independent, professional and ethical public service is an absolute pre-requisite for placing the country  on a path of renewal and rejuvenation.

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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