ANC is losing the battle on the ground
Many things are being said about the apparent inability of the ANC-led Government to deliver sufficient services to the people and start turning the tide against the triple threat of unemployment, poverty and inequality. I would like to add my 2 cents worth.
Recently, the DA in Parliament put a generic question to all Ministers about their car hire expenditure. Some of the amounts disclosed were humongous. Reading the replies from different Ministers, I asked myself how on earth could one person accumulate such amounts on car hire - surely the agencies must have inflated their prices when they heard it was a Minister who wanted to hire a car?
After interaction with staff in some ministries, I realised that a particular Minister reports on the car hire expenditure of his/her entire office, all the people making use of the ministerial budget. Ministers and Deputy Ministers normally have a staff contingent who travel with them wherever they go. And these people need transport to and from venues and events. And in terms of the security arrangements for VIPs, staff are not generally allowed to travel in the same vehicle (sedan) as the principal.
But some of these staff members like to travel in "better" vehicles than their principals. I know of one particular senior Minister who specified that the highest he would go would be a Mercedes Benz Kompressor, which is not an uncommon car. But some of his retinue like to drive in more expensive SUV's when they accompany him.
Just before the car hire question, the DA also posed a generic question about rented accommodation, including hotel stays. Again, the same pattern prevailed where the Minister had to account for his own stays, that of the deputy minister, and staff, without proper differentiation in this regard. Here, also, one finds that ministerial staff tend to have a tendency to stay in luxurious places. And more often than not, the Minister only becomes aware of this only after the fact.
There is one person who is a director in a particular ministry. He lives in Cape Town, but has to travel to Pretoria regularly. He decided to book at a B&B close to the department's head quarters, although it is not quite luxurious. He only requires transport from the airport to the B&B. Every day he is in Pretoria and has to spend at the HQ, he walks to and from the B&B, only requiring transport again when he has to attend a meeting far off, or to go back to the airport. In the last instance, he has a standing arrangement with a guy who lives in Kempton Park, so that this guy normally drops him at the airport on his way home; so there's no real extra cost.
No matter how one wants to look at it, anybody employed in the senior management service is a political deployee, as such a person's appointment is dependent on a positive vote by the ANC in Parliament. But once that person had been appointed, they become these super public servants who forget where they come from.
Unlike Helen Zille, I do not think cadre deployment is a bad thing, not at all. Fact is, the Government cannot make policy that falls outside of ANC policy and/or principles. So, at the end of the day, Government implements ANC policy. And who better to manage this implementation than ANC cadres?
But like the case of many ministerial staff members, the problem begins at their level. These people seemed to have lost the love they are supposed to have for the ANC. They do not care if their actions (or inaction) bring harm to the ANC. Examples would be the person who works with the mayor of a town, who does not report a malfunction of systems; the ministerial staff member who gives his minister the wrong advice, constantly; or a DDG who doesn't care that he flies first or business class, when economy would get him there at the same time.
If these people have had any regard for their party, they would think twice before doing what they are doing. They would have known that they could do irreparable harm to the ANC. But they just don't care. They think only of themselves, their comfort, and their pockets.
If the ANC has done wrong, it is that it has entrusted the wrong people with the responsibility to ensure that the people shall govern. And the ANC continues with this wrong. The ANC has a lot of cadres who can do any job with the least amount of notice time, and little training. Their love for the ANC ensures that they always think before they act.
Why can't we have more of those cadres deployed to certain positions? And why does it seems that the positions had been tainted in such a way that it corrupts the occupants of those offices?
Yes, the ANC is losing the battle on the ground. But not because it has the wrong policies, or because it is an uncaring organisation, it is failing because it seemingly cannot get to the point where it deploys its best, but continue to discharge its worse into the public system.
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