The short life of a DG in the regime of Jacob Zuma

Admin Churn | Continual changes at the highest levels show poor planning — and makes it difficult to hold office-bearers accountable

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s expanded administration has had 114 heads of its 33 departments since he came to power in May 2009.

Being a director-general may be worth a package of up to R1.5-million a year, but the average tenure for these officials has been just 300 working days.

An analysis of all 33 national government departments by the Sunday Times revealed that 114 different directors-general have served in either permanent or acting capacities since Zuma came to office 52 months ago.

Coupled with the 54 changes Zuma made to ministerial and deputy ministerial positions in his cabinet during the same period, 232 different people have held the 100 jobs available at the apex of the administration.

There have been 135 changes to those positions. Each department averages more than three directors-general, and just fewer than two ministers and two deputy ministers under Zuma.

Directors-general are the administrative heads of national departments and wield enormous power. They are responsible for implementing departmental policy and overseeing financial management.

Ministers serve as the political head, providing strategic and policy direction. Together, the directors-general and the ministers constitute the leadership of South Africa’s national departments.

Typically, a director-general serves on a three- or five-year contract. When that contract expires, an acting director-general is appointed from inside the department to manage the transition if the serving directorgeneral is not offered an extension.

Ideally, that period should be brief, because an expiring contract can be planned for ahead of time and a replacement appointed. Under Zuma, however, acting directors-general have served a combined 300 months. Many of them have been fired or suspended and poor planning has often meant that no suitable replacement was found in time.

The constant changes suggest administrative turmoil. The Department of State Security, for example, had an acting directorgeneral for 32 months.

The result is a revolving-door administration in which direc- tors-general come and go regularly and it becomes extremely difficult to ensure continuity inside a department and to allocate responsibility for servicedelivery outcomes.

At the extreme, the problem is acute. The Department of Agriculture, for example, has had seven acting or permanent directors-generals, two of whom were suspended.

When combined with the cabinet changes, the situation for some departments becomes dire. The Department of Communications has had two acting directors-general (serving about 23 months), three permanent directors-general, four ministers and three deputy ministers since Zuma took office.

Some allowance must be made for the transition to a new administration. A new president, even from the same party as his predecessor, will often replace existing directors-general and reorganise a cabinet on taking office to align it with his vision and programme of action.

But only nine of the 81 changes took place in the first six months of Zuma’s term. He has made another 72 changes since then. At least 13 of all changes have been because a director-general was suspended or fired for misconduct or mismanagement.

In the middle ground, there are a number of departments less affected. Four departments, including the presidency, have had a seamless transition from one permanent director-general to another, for a total of two. This would constitute best practice.

Fifteen departments have had two permanent directors-general, with an acting person between. However, those 15 acting directors-general were in office for a combined 108 months, an average of seven months each, suggesting poor planning because in most cases they were brought about as the result of a contract expiring.

Zuma has approved 81 changes to the position of director-general, 30 to deputy ministers and 24 to ministers, for a total of 135 changes.

The average number of directors-general in each department is 3.5 and the average length of tenure about 15 months or 450 days. If one accounts for weekends and leave, 450 days translates into about 300 working days. Only two departments — energy and science and technology — have had one permanent directorgeneral for all 52 months.

The 48 acting directors-general have spent about a total of 299 months in charge, an average of nine out of 52 months for each department (or 17% of Zuma’s tenure).