Tag: Durban

Strategic roles in government have in the past been used as a reward mechanism for those who support the president or some sort of loyalty retainer. The president has sought to distance himself from the fall-out that will ensue when she pursues senior politicians in the ANC for their role in degrading the South African state. The other is the establishment of a competent and responsive public service. However, it would appear to me that not much focus is paid by society at large on the need to have a fully functioning, competency driven public service that is capable of carrying out the many important tasks that confront South African society. By itself, deployment is a necessary mechanism to ensure that the ruling party's objectives are translated into programs of action by government and that all are focused on the same vision. On arrival at these institutions, they encounter highly capable public servants who have been overlooked for leadership positions despite their extensive experience in their portfolio. This disempowers the director-general who is the accounting officer of the department to the detriment of general discipline and focus on policy objectives. It also leads to conflict between the minister and the director-general, leading, in most cases, to the irretrievable breakdown of working relations and even worse, many departments being without accounting officers for very long periods of time. - Thembinkosi Gcoyi is the managing director of Frontline Africa Advisory. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

Cape Town is not alone. I was startled to discover that Mexican officials frequently treat water distribution and treatment not as public services but as political favors. When thunderstorms are cause for panic Nezahualcoyotl is a city in Mexico State near the nation’s sprawling capital. Officially, nearly all Mexicans have access to running water. Numerous engineers across Mexico similarly expressed frustration that they were sometimes forbidden from making technical fixes to improve local water service because of a mayor’s “political commitments.” In Nezahualcoyotl, I met a water director who openly boasted of using public water service for his political and personal gain. My sources also alleged that the powerful Revolutionary Institutional Party, or PRI – which has long run Mexico State, and thus controlled its water supply – has turned off the water in towns whose mayors belonged to opposition parties. Water corruption isn’t limited to Mexico State, or to the center-right PRI party. Water is a state secret In Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz state, I saw how water can hold a different kind of political power. The workers controlled valuable information about the city’s water system. But when politicians manipulate it for their personal or political benefit, some cities flood while others go dry.