Rise on merit

I READ your leader in the paper yesterday “Raise the bar” (Cape Times, July 20) and you say there are calls for changes in the way municipal councillors are elected.

There is no doubt this is why our country is racked with unrest. The people who have been put into positions in our municipalities simply cannot do the jobs they are paid for and huge amounts of money is lost to corruption.

The fact that we are talking about changes is definitely a step in the right direction. The time has come that appointments are made on merit, on competence, ignoring party affiliation, nepotism and cadre deployment. To move forward as a state, to remove the constraining shackles that keep us down, we should look at the South Korean model, where if the president or cabinet level officials are suspected of wrongdoing, they are subject to impeachment by the National Assembly.

At local government, to gain a position in the civil service, aspiring applicants need to pass one or more examinations and promotion through the ranks is linked to a performance review. In South Korea, appointments are based on merit, competence, ignoring party affiliation. In a sense, the best person for the job. Can this be so difficult to do? I don’t care who does the job as long as it is done well without fear or favour and without corruption.

One cannot legislate the poor, unskilled and uneducated, the have nots, into freedom and jobs by legislating the haves out of their jobs.

A government cannot give to anybody anything that that government does not first take from someone else and when half the people get the idea that they do not have to do an honest day’s work because the other half will take care of them we are on a hiding to nothing. We could be such a great country, but things need to change and if we can find solutions from other countries let’s try them. Barbie Sandler Claremont