TOPIC: WHAT DOES THIS MOMENT CALL FOR?
Programme Director,
- Sello Hatang, Chief Executive, Nelson Mandela Foundation;
- Sumaya Hendricks, Head: Dialogue and Advocacy, Nelson Mandela Foundation;
- Fatima Shabodien, Strategy Director at The RAITH Foundation;
- Ayabonga Cawe, Chief Commissioner at International Trade Administration Commission;
- Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, Founder of Gift of the Givers;
- Nomzamo Zondo, Executive Director at Socio-economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI).
I thank the Nelson Mandela Foundation for the invitation and opportunity offered to me to address this gathering of minds and voices on the topic: “What does this moment call for?”
Indeed, we are gathered today in the shadow of a mounting list of issues and pressing questions that demand our utmost attention, at every angle, in order to accurately red and understand the situation.
These Dialogue Series, as the briefing note states, take place against a backdrop of multi-layered and compounding crises: developments and events which throw the underpinnings of our institutions, as well as the architecture of politics and the socio-economic system, into a state of flux.
The invitation from the organisers or convenors of this gathering framed the topic that I am asked to address by giving the following background:
“In the 10th year that marks the commemoration of Madiba’s passing, South Africa is riddled with what feels like profound and intractable challenges. The acute service delivery failures along with deteriorating infrastructure is both symbolic and a physical manifestation of leadership and governance failures. These failures are exacerbated by rampant corruption across all levels of society. Moreover, the toxicity of crime, high levels of unemployment, racism as well as abuse and violence against women and children serves to further fracture society. The magnitude of challenges often feels overwhelming and hard to make sense of, which in turn makes determining the action required unclear.
“Against this backdrop, there are pressing questions that demand our attention as civil society. These include questions such as, how do we direct our activities and energies at this time? What will make a difference and shift the needle towards building the nation of Madiba’s dreams? To what extent will our current work address the challenges of the day? What does this moment demand of us?”
This simple description of our current context, not only provides a powerful source to breathe life into the Preamble and the Constitution of our Republic, but also a particular resource to rethink the links between politics and implementation.
Our main body politic is a multiparty constitutional democracy within the socio-economic formation of capitalism. The state consists of three arms namely; the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary supported by Chapter 9 Institutions.
In addition we have a number of agencies as well as NEDLAC which is made up of four chambers: Government, Organised Labour, Organised Business and Civil Society. NEDLAC has been seized with the discussions around the important matter of crafting the basics for a social compact.
Some scholars, researchers, writers, political commentators, donor organisations and governments tend to refer to all NGOs as civil society.
Whereas others refer to the golden triangle of government, business, and trade unions as the establishment, and see all the other formations as civil society, including: community-based organisations; religious and faith-based organisations; issue-based organisations and traditional fellowships.
Through the latter categorization, one may generate a deeper appreciation of civil society as a pivotal, key contributor in advancing and safeguarding the interests of the under classes and weaker sections of society.
A robust democracy that relies on civil society as the last line of defence to fight on behalf of the people, thus requires a civil society to be as equally, if not more, robust to ensure the social movements do protect the interests of the most vulnerable.
A shining example of civil society creating lasting, meaningful, and wide-reaching change, is the HIV/AIDS activist organisation, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) co-founded by activist, Zackie Achmat in 1998. With the spirit and experience of anti-apartheid action, the TAC is credited with changing the antiretroviral drugs policy in South Africa.
So, when approaching the topic for this Critical Dialogue Series: “What does this moment call for?” we may not take for granted the assumptions, inclusions and exclusions that are inherent in such a question. Accepting that perhaps what this moment calls for may not be essentially different from any other moment in our recent past, leads us to the understanding that we should also be asking a separate set of questions.
On paper, we may all enjoy universal suffrage, however, the absence of justice and basic human rights for the majority of citizens, robs us of realising anything that is valued in our Constitution.
- Values and ethics that guide us in the selection and election of leadership.
- Premium value that we place in educational qualifications and merit.
But, we may ask, what is the advantage and benefit of having all the rights if you cannot access them in the current system?
The questions of how to organise ourselves for the common benefit, remains as important as ever. Our challenge is to recover it from the resultant rubble of our failures. We need to define our strategic goal, the vision as well as our historical mission.
How should we identify pressure points in the state such that our campaigns and concerted efforts lead to the desired changes and efficiencies?
Author A.M. Kelly quotes John Maynard Keynes as having stated the following:
“[I]t is not sufficient that the state of affairs which we seek to promote should be better than the state of affairs which preceded it, it must be sufficiently better to make up for the evils of the transition.”
The National Development Plan envisaged the building of a capable state. However, this is a conundrum because some sections of the Public Service Act read in conjunction with certain sections of the Public Service Regulations.
In Chapter IV section 12 (1) (a) of the Public Service Act, we find the following procedure for the appointment of heads of department and career incidents:
“the appointment and other career incidents of the heads of department and government component shall be dealt with, in the case of-
- a head of a national department or national government component, by the President; and”
yet in Chapter VIII section 42A (3) states the following:
“The executive authority referred to in section 12 (1) may, in the case of the President, delegate to the Deputy President or a Minister any power conferred on the President by section 12”
Whereas in Chapter 4, Part 4 section 67 (2) of the Public Service Regulations under the sub-heading Selection:
“A selection committee constituted for the appointment of
(a) the head of a national department or national government component, shall be chaired by the executive authority responsible for the portfolio in which the vacancy exists and include at least two other executive authorities of a national department and a national head of department;
(b) the head of the Presidency, shall be chaired by a Minister in the Presidency and include at least two other executive authorities of a national department and a national head of department;”
And in Part 3 in section 51 which deals with working hours-
“Subject to any collective agreements and the Code of Good Practice on Arrangement of Working Time issued in terms of section 87 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act No. 75 of 1997), a head of department shall determine
(a) the work week and daily hours of work for employees; and
(b) the opening and closing times of places of work of the department, taking into account
(i) the needs of the public with due regard to the department’s service delivery improvement plan;
and
(ii) the needs and circumstances of employees, including family obligations and transport arrangements.”
To achieve capability throughout the three tiers of the state, we need a campaign for the executive authority in Chapter IV section 12 (1)of the Public Service Act to be delegated to the Public Service Commission with the understanding that the Public Service Commission will not itself act as an interviewing panel. But, will instead put together ad hoc panels of experts and practitioners in the field where a vacancy exists.
The interviews will then be transparent and rigorous and the successful candidates must be employed on the permanent basis as opposed to the current system of short-term contracts.
This will professionalise the public service and allow for institutional memory to be accumulated.
It will stabilise the public service sector.
In the Political-Administration Interface, it will eliminate interference by the political principals. The administration will outlive the political.
At a conceptual level, the government or the executive serve as the face of the state for a 5-year term at a time. Whereas governments come and go, the state (administration) must be permanent and stable.
Therefore, building a capable state is the catalytic imperative.
Despite the progress made in the era of democracy, what progress has been made in understanding why a lack of economic transformation has persisted and even escalated since 1994. This continuum of poverty is not simply a manifestation of leadership and governance failures, but is a glaring expression of the need to question the wider polity.
In the book entitled, “An Outline of the New African Movement in South Africa” by Ntongela Masilela, the following is said about the direction of progressive revolutionary transformation:
“The first democratic elections of 1994 were arguably the most important political event in the history of South Africa. They were in many ways an incomplete revolution: economic power still remains in the hands of a few.
“Despite its incompleteness or perhaps because of its incompleteness, this partial democratic process necessitated a serious interrogation of what we presume to be our self-evident knowledge of what South Africans are.”
And, within this understanding of an incomplete revolution, the question, “What does this moment call for?” reveals possible answers and pathways that lie within the destination: that democracy is a place we are traveling to, and is something that has to be won.
Those who were dispossessed of the land are still landless. What campaign can we mount to remedy this?
Democracy is an ideal that we have to fight for every day, to ready ourselves for action and participate on every level, in an organised fashion, to attain such a vision.
I thank you.
