Return to values of our constitution
SOUTH Africa has weathered a singular metaphorical storm in the peaceful political transition from the discredited Jacob Zuma presidency to that of Cyril Ramaphosa.
The new president has the potential to be a game-changer.
When the euphoria abates, it, however, is necessary to examine the inordinate challenges confronting Ramaphosa as leader of both the ANC and the country.
South Africa needs to be restored and invigorated by returning to the basic values set out in the Freedom Charter and Section 1 of the constitution, such as the rule of law, non-racism, accountability and transparency.
The integrity of governance has to be re-established and the historic Nelson Mandela legacy adhered to.
Ramaphosa has taken important initiatives to rebuild the South African economy to bring prosperity to all the people of South Africa.
In addition, as Prof Dirk Kotze pointed out in an opinion piece, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Hawks have indeed embarked on a far more vigorous pursuit of those persons alleged to have been involved in criminal conduct inherent in the notorious activities of state capture.
This is of fundamental importance since, as he observes, state capture and the rule of law are mutually incompatible.
Besides the rule of law, the ANC government and the nation need to re-affirm their commitment to the fundamental value of non-racialism.
Unfortunately the Zuma administration manifestly abandoned non-racialism and pursued a policy of racial nationalism, to the manifest detriment of the country as a whole and minority groups in particular.
Non-racialism forms a golden thread that is woven into the constitution.
A commitment to non-racialism is also incompatible with the widely and indiscriminately employed practice of cadre deployment, used by the Zuma administration to appoint persons who were ANC members to positions in the public service, regardless of their competence. This is unconstitutional. Unqualified cadre deployment in general must be exposed for what it actually is, namely unfair discrimination.
In effect, it is akin to apartheid in the manner in which it operates in relation to those who are not card-carrying ANC members or who are not intimately connected to the ANC.
In a limited number of very senior posts in the civil service, as occurs in other democracies such as in Washington and Westminster, a particular position may justify the appointment of a person whose views are aligned to the governing administration.
It is, however, very much the exception to the rule that an apolitical civil service as a whole is essential to serve the government of the day with commitment and competence.
This is the opposite of what occurred in South Africa, under the Zuma ANC administration, where cadre deployment became widespread and resulted in large numbers of incompetent people being appointed to positions for which they had neither the experience nor qualifications.
This facilitated maladministration and corruption. This has resulted in very debilitating problems, particularly in the sphere of local government, where in relation to service delivery there have been widespread political protests, some of which have become violent.
Large-scale cadre deployment must inevitably lead to the politicisation of the civil service, and decline in competence and commitment, as manifestly occurred under the Zuma administration.
The Ramaphosa administration must take decisive steps to end such practice in the interests of good and competent government. It must do so by both word of mouth and conduct, and thereby reinstate non-racialism in its philosophy and practice of governance.
George Devenish, emeritus professor at UKZN and one of the scholars who helped draft the interim constitution in 1993