ANC’s inefficiency in public sector is why no recovery is on the horizon, writes Leon Schreiber
Over the past few months, since being appointed the DA’s shadow minister for public service and administration, I have done a lot of digging aimed at ascertaining the true state of the SA public service. What I have found paints a deeply disturbing picture.
On the one hand, this means that a well-run and capable public sector has the potential to boost the economic fortunes of the private sector and the prosperity of the country as a whole. Conversely, a corrupt and mismanaged public sector can be fatal to any prospect of economic recovery. Unfortunately, the latter applies to the SA of 2019.
The department of water and sanitation is the single-biggest offender, owing businesses R492m, followed by the department of agriculture owing R99m, and the police owing R24m. Provincial governments also owe businesses a staggering R6.5bn. Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, both provinces run into the ground by the ANC, have failed to pay for services to the tune of R2.6bn and R2.1bn, respectively. No company or economy can grow and create jobs when their biggest customer is a financial delinquent.
Despite this being in direct contravention of the 2014 Public Administration Management Act, public service and administration minister Senzo Mchunu said in response to a parliamentary question that not a single public-service employee had been held accountable or fired for doing business with the state.
Despite empty political talk about lifestyle audits, the government has no system in place to conduct those, to proactively identify politicians and public servants living beyond their means. In response to a parliamentary question, the public service and administration minister simply stated that his department “is not mandated to conduct lifestyle audits on members of the executive, which includes members of cabinet and deputy ministers”.
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