The need for public policy review

Public policy should be responsive to changing realities.The recent events in Westbury and government's response to the public violence there prompted this reflection.

The unrest in Westbury was sparked by the murder of the mother caught in the alleged gang violence crossfire. Her niece, also reportedly shot by a stray bullet, is now out of hospital and is stable.

The community of Westbury mobilised street protests expressing their anger at rampant gang violence in the area which they attribute to high unemployment, poor delivery of municipal services and inadequate policing.They also highlighted the fact that the police were taking bribes from criminals.

Police Minister Bheki Cele immediately visited the area and held public meetings. He has since returned there twice and announced a number of measures, such as increasing the number of police officers and prioritising the detection and arrest of suspected gang members who terrorise the community.

A colleague in the senior management service of the Gauteng Provincial Government,Yoliswa Makhasi, shared chilling observations of Westbury after visiting the area as part of Minister Cele's intervention. Makhasi wrote that the area has:

• Many (illegal) dumping sites

throughout the community, wondering when garbage was last removed by the municipality. Crime and grime goes together, she wrote.

• Poor street lighting and uncut grass fertile which are conditions for crime. • Prevalent alcohol and drug abuse • Serious and violent crime, inadequate policing, alleged police corruption and collusion with criminals as well as gangsterism. • High levels of poverty and unemployment.

In addition to these poor public policy outcomes, the community of Westbury has lamented constant water and electricity cuts, deteriorating public infrastructure and limited access to public transport. Schools in the area are not helping children break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

Sustaining policy direction

What is the point of this recitation? We recall these to make a point

that it is important for public policy to be responsive to changing realities and the needs of the people. We learn from literature that public policy should be reviewed every three to five years. Such reviews may result in sustaining policy direction or making necessary amendments.

Public policy is an art of making choices, an adage goes. Sometimes, with the best of intentions, these choices result in unfavourable outcomes occasioned by a confluence of factors such as weak policy design, poor implementation capacity, limited resources or some other exogenous factors.

Poor public policy and democracy education is the reason why there is sometimes confusion about changes to public policy. The extent of public participation in policy making matters as much.

Increasing public awareness

The state should take responsibility for increasing public awareness on policy-making processes, especially on how decisions are taken (including decision-making structures, enforcement mechanisms, feedback loops).

For example, some in the public don't know that ministers have no sole authority to determine public policy. All decisions are taken by Cabinet which can approve, veto or amend a departmental proposal.That is a constitutional provision. Predominantly these departmental submissions are influenced by ruling party mandates.

At the same time, a minister responsible for implementing policy takes the flak or credit for the performance of policy that his or her department is a custodian of. That is generally how ministers are judged – apart from the flair and personality they add into their portfolios.

In the case of Westbury, it is clear from both official feedback and public commentary that our brothers and sisters in that locale are victims of poor policy implementation and democratic indifference or political neglect. Policies designed to address spatial injustice have not worked for the people of Westbury as much as they have not worked for the people in the hostels in Alex, Diepsloot and many other peri-urban neighbourhoods.

Further, social cohesion interventions have not worked, hence the sentiment of racial exclusion. And, as the story goes for many poor and working-class communities, local government dehumanises people by failing to provide quality and consistent basic services. Consequently, social policy failures become policing issues, putting pressure on the overstretched police department.

Perhaps, as we move towards marking 25 years of democracy, we should pause and think of creative and effective ways of raising awareness about public policy-making processes, including the role of the citizens in shaping policy direction. Equally, policy makers need to recognise the dehumanising conditions of citizens and take proactive steps to change these. Meeting the basic needs of citizens, like regular refuse removal and teachers being in class on time teaching, are building blocks towards restoring the dignity of the people, stripped away by decades of racial oppression and post-apartheid structural unemployment which reproduces poverty and inequality.

*Ngcaweni is co-editor of the

forthcoming book

“We are no Longer at Ease: The Struggle for #FeesMustFall”.