President Zuma misunderstands democracy

President Jacob Zuma delivered a “lecture on democracy” in the National Council of Provinces. He explained, in response to allegations of appointing “cronies,” that in a democracy, “The people who are coming in, with their comrades, people that they trust, will implement their policies, that is democracy.”  The ANC would continue appointing people they trust.

Several problems arise.  The first is the president seems unaware of the possibility of having a professional public service, where officials make things work, irrespective of which party is in power.  Politicians come and go but competent officials, loyal to the government of the day, go on forever.

The second is that “comrades” are appointed.  This lies at the root of the administrative and technical shambles that bedevils government at every level. Cadre deployment has been a disaster, but our president seems not to see that. 

Of course, ministers and some of the most senior officials will be ANC members the president trusts; that happens in every country.  The problem is that it is ANC policy to fill every position of power and influence at every level with comrades.

Whether the president is prepared to admit it or not, nepotism lies at the heart of the rot. Moreover, after a generation in power, the rot goes deep. Very often, people in government use the transformation mantra but nepotism and abuse of power lie at the heart of the inability of government to provide efficient service to the public.

The third problem of the president’s view of democracy is this:  once trusted comrades are appointed – then what?  If they prove unworthy of the trust; if they mess up; if they are dishonest; if they are shown to be incapable of carrying out their tasks – then what?  The answer seems to be: then nothing.

Mr Kimi Makwetu, the auditor-general, bemoaned the fact that no one faces any consequences of financial mismanagement and adverse audit reports. He pointed out that in the 2014/2015 financial year the state (that means you and me) lost R 936m in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Mr Makwetu said that Education, Health and Public Works, which together spend about a third of the national budget, had the worst outcomes.  He appealed for a focus on these departments to ensure a meaningful movement towards accurate, accountable and transparent financial and performance reporting. 

He also referred to the lack of leadership involved in putting things right.  That means ministers, premiers, mayors, directors-general and the financial people in departments and municipalities. In any private organisation, the CEO would be fired, the chief financial officer would be fired and those responsible for major and significant financial shortcomings would not last another month.  In government, from ministers down, nothing happens.  That is because they are trusted comrades.

The Americans are fond of the catch phrase “You’re fired.”  It has its origins more than a hundred years ago and some people say it was one of the pillars of productivity and excellence in that country.  What a pity the ghastly Donald Trump tried to claim it; much better had President Zuma adopted it as his own.

The problem with cadre deployment is that the person so appointed remains a comrade.  Even if she is hopeless at her task;  totally ill equipped to do the job; and clearly failing, she remains a comrade. 

Some appear to be closer than political comrades:  for example, Ms Dudu Myeni, a schoolteacher who knows nothing about running a massive business,  is referred to in every news report as being “close to the president.”  She is the Chairperson of the board of South African Airways (SAA) but she is not up to the job. Just like Riah Phiyega was not up to her job as Commissioner of the South African Police Service. And several ministers are hopelessly incompetent.

Dudu Myeni should be running a primary school somewhere but because she is a trusted comrade, she is permitted to run SAA into the ground.  If reports are accurate, SAA is trading in insolvent circumstances and yet this woman tells ministers where to get off. 

She gave the finger to Minister Lynne Brown who was no doubt vastly relieved when Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene became Myeni’s boss.  DA shadow minister, David Maynier, recently asked Minister Nene why he allowed himself to be henpecked by Myeni and urged him to deal with SAA’s “acute financial distress.”

Poor Nene. If the president will not deal with Dudu Myeni, described as “untouchable, ” who can?  Does the president have no one in his trusted circle who is able to tell him that he is being made a fool of and that South Africa and the SAA is suffering grievous harm?  If he has surrounded himself with trusted comrades who toady to him and flatter him instead of being able to tell him the truth, then things are even worse with this presidency than one feared.

I well remember sitting in the SAA lounge at Cape Town airport about two years before the end of the Mbeki presidency.  An ANC friend of mine, today very senior , burst into tears when I asked her how she was.  She told me that things were terrible in that she attended funerals every weekend of young people who were dying like flies and then she had to go to a caucus that listened in silence to Mbeki’s nonsense about HIV/Aids.

People in the ANC need to wake up and speak up.  There are many good people in that party.  Some of them need to talk to President Zuma and start insisting on competence as the basic minimum requirement for appointees and for their continuance in office.  Being a trusted comrade is not enough.

Douglas Gibson is a former Chief Whip of the Opposition and a former ambassador to Thailand.

This article first appeared in The Star.