Politics at heart of problem

Colm Allen seems to think the primary reason for dysfunctional municipalities is weakening technical competency. No amount of additional monitoring, evaluation, indexing or auditing is going to improve matters. The real problem with governance is systemic.

Since the introduction of “executive” political systems in 1998 the administrations have become deeply politicised and deprofessionalised, while the body politic has become operationally involved and an avenue of employment.

The first calculus of any political announcement these days is whether it’s good for the party’s public image, damaging to our (or my) constituency and suitably contrary to the opposition. Most important, however, is, is my survival in jeopardy?

Holding political office is no longer about being a representative of the people only: it has become a livelihood. Facts, measures and technical knowledge are merely a crutch or hindrance in the world of rhetoric.

They are not central to policy making or taking action. That is why reporting on crime, literacy and numerous other indicators are suppressed.

In fusing political and technical reasoning, concepts such as “public interest” or the populations’ general wellbeing have all but disappeared. Technically knowledgeable people and specifically bodies such as commissions of inquiry are treated with suspicion and regarded as unpredictable.

The dominance of political imperatives over technical ones has already bled into the private sector, such as the financial auditing profession. The two spheres must once again be separated fundamentally in practice, and then both must be protected on their own terms, otherwise we’ll have many more HIV/AIDS denialisms.

J Kuhn

Cape Town