Restructuring of govt should go beyond a Cabinet reshuffle

One of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first pledges in office on 16 February 2018 was the reconfiguration of government so “the structure and size of the state is optimally suited to meet the needs of the people and ensure the most efficient allocation of public resources”.

Over the past three years, executive power has shifted to the Presidency – think Operation Vulindlela with the National Treasury, the Project Management Office, the Infrastructure and Investment Office. Ramaphosa also chairs a host of co-ordinating structures and councils on, for example, stateowned enterprises.

What must happen now is a total executive overhaul. Tinkering with the number of Cabinet posts and the size of the national executive would just be putting lipstick on a pig.

Shedding 19 of the 28 Cabinet ministers and all of the 34 deputy ministerial posts would be a step forward. Not just to save money (it would save about R116-million annually) but also to drive efficient spending of public finances.

Crucially, such fundamental restructuring would also help break up the networks of patronage and nepotism that, most recently, facilitated various Covid-19 tender malfeasance. It would also help shed fossilised government protocols – everyone defers to the most senior person in the room, or the minister – alongside kicking for touch by invoking process and collectivity.

Put differently: fewer ministers, fewer diary clashes, and better executive decision-making. And that should speed up governance decisions and implementation, which are almost down to the pace of a dead snail.

Focusing on nine ministries, some departments would be combined for better co-ordination and an end to “working in silos”, in government lingo. Ministers, the political bosses, should be able to deal with several directors-general (DGs), who must be appointed, and account, according to function. Who says it has to be one department, one DG?

Some changes would be fairly straightforward.

The Finance Ministry remains, as do the Defence Ministry and International Relations. But International Relations also takes charge of South Africa’s foreign intelligence services. Unbundling the State Security Agency (SSA) into foreign and domestic services, said the 2018 High Level Panel Review Report, is one step to deal with malfeasance and excessive secrecy.

The biggest change would be a Home and Interior Affairs Ministry in charge of people and citizen-related services: birth, identity, immigration and social development, but also police and domestic intelligence. SA could finally get the electronic integrated population database and fingerprint system that government has battled to implement for more than 25 years.

Bringing together identity matters with social development would allow cross-referencing for an easier and more dignified process of grant and other social development assistance for vulnerable and poor South Africans. Applications for passports, IDs and permanent residency would be made easier, as would visa processes for those wanting to come to South Africa to retire, invest or to take up critical-skills jobs.

The controversial Border Management Authority is perhaps most readily accommodated in this ministry. Including domestic intelligence and policing would spur co-operation.

Domestic intelligence, among others, is supposed to let government know of risks and threats – whether that’s taxi conflicts or cybercrime and organised crime like traffickers of goods or people – and provide credible analyses.

As for the police, rather than the lackadaisical rearranging of the deckchairs in the current amendment to the SA Police Service Act, a transformative revision would move the uniformed branches, from visible policing to protection services and the specialised units, to this new ministry.

Detectives, forensics and the Hawks would fall to Justice, which has oversight of arrests, courts and imprisonment. These specialised police units, with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), boost the fight against corruption and crime.

Health must remain a ministry – its problems are huge. An Education and Research Ministry would ensure co-ordination from Grade R to PhD level, with specific attention to research and innovation. Between them the DGs for basic education, higher education and research and innovation would co-operate to, for example, stem the school dropout rate. About half the children who start Grade R do not reach matric. Those without a school-leaving certificate are hardest hit by unemployment, a key structural impediment to South Africa’s social wellbeing and economic recovery.

For the economy, South Africa would need ministries of economic affairs and development.

Economic Affairs includes small business development, trade and industry, communications, energy, mineral resources and agriculture. It seems an all-sorts collection, but it would facilitate co-ordination across sectors.

A Development Ministry would leverage spatial development, service delivery and economic stimulus from transport (roads and rail are central to economic activity) to land and rural development to redress stubborn inequalities and environmental affairs. Human Settlements and Water and Sanitation are key to developing dignified living spaces, while Public Works maintains government public infrastructure. Labour deals with public works programmes and fair labour practices across the private and public sectors.

This restructuring is not impossible. Changes are already under way in the public service. For example, the DG of the Presidency is publicly styled as the “DG of the Republic”, as reforms move towards a single public service across local, provincial to national government.

It takes political will to restructure government and governance beyond the tinkering of a Cabinet reshuffle. In South Africa’s seemingly permanent election cycle, from municipal to national polls, with internal political party contests in between, that political will may well be subservient to the party’s internal support considerations and the demands of the campaign trail.

But a fundamental restructuring of national government is eminently doable. And crucial. Maybe not for the political elites that benefit from the current omnishambles, but certainly for everyone else in South Africa.