Damning lessons on rotten governance
THROUGH the tumult and noise that characterised 2016, above all else, it was a lesson in bad governance. From 9/12 – when Nhlanhla Nene was dumped as finance minister by President Jacob Zuma – for the rest of the 12 months that followed, the degeneration of the state of governance was laid bare.
It showed starkly how little regard there is for the National Development Plan, which espouses building a state capable of playing a developmental and transformative role, one in which the public service is insulated from political interference, one that is staffed with experienced, skilled and competent individuals, and one in which there are clear governance structures and a stable leadership of state-owned entities to achieve their developmental potential.
The Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla was the first among the lessons in poor governance South Africa received.
A full bench of Constitutional Court justices spelt out eloquently in painstaking detail the duties of the head of state and of parliament.
I will never forget their words, which highlighted the perilous terrain we have now entered: “The president is the head of state and head of the national executive. His is indeed the highest calling to the highest office in the land. He is the first citizen of this country and occupies a position indispensable for the effective governance of our democratic country.
“He is a constitutional being by design, a national pathfinder, the quintessential commander-in-chief of state affairs and the personification of this nation’s constitutional project.”
No assessment of the current president’s character could have condemned him more than laying bare everything that he is not, as the Nkandla judgment did.
The response by the government to the closure of the Gupta family bank accounts was a shocking indictment, an illustration of just how far off track the country’s leadership has veered.
It was also a year in which political leaders were pitted against bureaucrats and administrative heads.
The battle between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and South African Revenue Service commissioner Tom Moyane is indicative of the perils of factional battles seeping into the state.
The breathtaking admission by Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that members of the Gupta family offered him Nene’s job, with a “bonus” of R600-million in exchange for doing their bidding when he had settled into the Treasury, was yet another sign of meltdown. Especially harrowing is that there have been no consequences for any of those involved.
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture highlighted the degeneration, leading to the resignation of acting Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe, who was damned from the contents and observations in the report.
The ongoing drama at the SABC came to a head, with its obstinate chairman, Mbulaheni Maguvhe, unmoved even in the face of a parliamentary inquiry and the resignation of all of his colleagues.
Local government elections were another indicator of governance failure after the ANC lost control of three major cities.
But the run-up to the polls was just as instructive, with protests erupting in Tshwane against the removal as mayoral candidate of the then incumbent, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, resulting in five deaths. The protests were linked to fears that the patronage web stitched together under his tenure would be unravelled by a rival candidate. Many ANC members who took part in the process had rejected one of their own, but ended up being governed by an opposition coalition.
It was an election that warned just how high the patronage, not governance, stakes actually were; councillors were killed in parts of the country.
This has also been a year that showed how those wanting to extricate South Africa from its poor governance morass were defeated and shut down.
Almost a year to the day after Zuma removed Nene, he himself faced a hostile national executive committee meeting at which calls for his resignation were made, including by some of his ministers, who could no longer stomach the deterioration of governance under his watch.
But they were defeated and the ANC’s faux unity was elevated above a push for better governance.
All is not lost, though – the fightback against poor governance has begun within the ANC, by nongovernmental organisations, by the large swathe of the state that remains committed to good governance but is hamstrung by politicians, and by ordinary citizens.
The fight has just begun and while winning it is a long shot, it is not impossible.
Natasha Marrian is Business Day’s political editor