They’re in charge, but not responsible

IT is a bit worrying that the guys who are ostensibly in control, namely the government, seem to suffer so severely from an “external locus of control”. External locus of control is the belief that events in your life, whether good or bad, are caused by factors beyond your control such as the environment, other people or a “higher power”.

In the corporate world, the opposite of external locus of control often prevails when it comes to executive pay. Thus we often hear members of remuneration committees explain that the CEO was paid a fortune because essentially “he caused” the share price to rise.

However, when the share price slumps, there’s an immediate flip to external locus of control as the same committee explains that the CEO was again paid a fortune because the drop in the share price was attributable to market forces.

In the case of the government, the higher power that is in control varies depending on the situation.

Last week, in a column in City Press, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte drew attention to what is probably one of the best known of the “higher powers”, namely, the profit motive.

As Duarte saw it, the obsession with generating short-term profits, particularly for foreign shareholders, was responsible for causing widespread misery in the mining industry. Once easy profits were no longer available, companies off-loaded their mines and moved on to the next source of easy pickings without any consideration for the communities in which they had operated.

Duarte’s comments came just weeks after ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe blamed “white foreigners” for the strike on the platinum belt. These were not white foreign shareholders, but labour organisers who were, according to Mantashe, somehow able to ensure that tens of thousands of workers stayed away from work for five long months.

This week, National Council of Provinces chairwoman Thandi Modise “externalised” the responsibility for the shocking conditions on her farm by putting the blame on the replacement farm manager who had failed to materialise.

“I am not a farmer. I am trying to farm. I am learning,” said Modise by way of explanation, before adding: “But if you are a woman and you are learning, you are not allowed to make mistakes.”

Whatever way you look at it, that explanation is appalling.

Modise is a full-time politician who was recently appointed to a new job, which, if it is to be done properly, should not allow much time to learn hobbies such as farming. Golf, perhaps, but not farming.

Given that she failed so spectacularly in her last job, which was premier of North West, how could Modise have assumed she would have the time to learn farming?

There is the additional issue of how much the farm had cost. If she was lent money — perhaps by the Land Bank — what are the terms of the loan?

And the presumption that you should be allowed to make these sorts of “mistakes” because you are a woman is deeply offensive.

Duarte is right to blame a shortterm focus on profit generation for the appalling conditions in which miners in Marikana have to work. Furthermore, the shoddy state of the town, which is situated in the middle of one of the richest patches of land in the world, highlights mining companies’ utter lack of commitment to workers, the community and the environment in search of a very fast buck.

But if the leaders of the ANC do not accept that the government itself has been utterly ineffective in addressing the situation, then problems will continue to plague the industry.

By focusing on equity ownership, the Mining Charter has merely spread the benefits of short-term profit focus to a few well-placed ANC supporters. It has failed to deal with fundamental challenges.

And what should we make of Modise’s appointment to the chair of the National Council of Provinces in the light of the appalling mismanagement of North West?

How is it that hundreds of millions of rands of royalty payments, intended for the improvement of local services, are still unaccounted for?

Is there anybody out there taking responsibility?