An analysis of the management framework for development in the South African public sector

[摘要] Development must be contextually understood. Not all persons will react similarlyto circumstances in their environment. Their behaviour in certain situations will bedetermined by a wide variety of factors, including their upbringing, their culturalframework within which they reason and function, for example. Similarlygovernment will react within the contextual framework composed of itspredominant ideological perspective, its understanding of history, its perceptionof the dominant viewpoint regarding the matter in society, and so forth.South Africa's economic limitations have placed serious constrains on thecountry's ability to formulate and implement sustainable development policies.One of the extremely negative side-effects of this reality was the continuous cashflow problems experienced by various Provincial and National authorities in thecountry, where the National Government was eventually required to bail them outin terms of Section 100 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.The implications of this were that these authorities surrendered their autonomy interms of the Constitution to the central government.South Africa is a developing country, which made it a bit more 'unequalamongst equals' in the global economic structure. In this regard it is essential forthe country to take cognisance of the reality of the global village in which it finditself; characterised by the domination of a single remaining superpower, adeclining ability of the physical environment to sustain life and a rapidly changingworld-order.Limited economic resources to facilitate development caused various socioeconomicproblems in the country. Amongst these are the enormous gapbetween the rich and the poor in the country. This reality is threatening toexplode and plunge the country in anarchy. A declining infrastructure is furthereroding South Africa's ability to construct meaningful economic growth.A decrease in the role and function of religion and churches in the country hasgradually eroded the moral fiber of society. The result is a South African realitycharacterized by a staggering crime rate and the transformation of the normativefoundation to guide management activity in the South African public service.Other characteristics of the South African environment are persistent racialdivisions, inequality and staggering unemployment.The question that might be asked is how responsive the political set-up in SouthAfrica is to the fostering of effective management of development. The answer tothis issue can be formulated by evaluating the South African government'sresponse to the environmental challenges in the country.A very positive aspect in the political set-up of the South African society, thatundoubtedly foster improvement in the quality of life of ordinary South Africans, isthe massive increase in the levels of public participation in the decision - andpolicy-making processes of the country. Contemporary involvement of thecommunity by means of continuous and extensive road shows and openmeetings with the community is a massive improvement on the traditionalinvolvement in the form of party-political meeting during election campaigns anda formal speech at the opening (or launch) of one or the other project.Aggressive union activity, and the concept of rolling mass action have alsofostered a culture of participation. However, on the negative side it is worthmentioning that a growing feeling of apathy can be detected, especially amongstthe youth, and that the level of active participation in the political process isrelatively low, and ever declining. The euphoria of the freedom struggle, andeventual victory over the oppressor have come and gone, in spite of activeattempts on the side of the government to keep these feelings and emotions alive(mostly for party-political gain). These feelings have been replaced with despairin the face of ongoing unemployment and poverty.The structural management capacity of the public sector to realise ambitiousdevelopment progress has improved - although a move away from bureaucraticmanagement structures will surely benefit this ability. The introduction of aperformance management framework, multi-year planning and improvedaccountability measures have strengthened the ability of the South African publicsector to facilitate effective development management.However, aspects that will certainly impact negatively on the ability of the publicsector to effectively management development initiatives are also numerous:o A serious lack of financial management competency and expertise.o The 'affirmative-action-at-all-cost' policy, where desperately needed expertiseare often pro-actively chased away to make way for politically acceptableappointments. The same goes for indiscretional political appointments at highand senior organizational positions.These days just about all personnel-related matters in the public sector arebased on 'representivity' - even personnel performance appraisals. If thesekind of appraisals do not reflect the racial composition of a the staffcomponent of a department, the process is stopped for further investigation.o Persistent racism - white public officials who, often unconsciously, stillbelieve that black workers are inferior and their contribution less impressive.In some instances white public officials also hampers effective servicedelivery because they will still advantage whites at service delivery points.o However, and this point the government denies flat-out: Black-an-whitediscrimination is also thriving. Newly appointed black managers often havevery deep anti-white feelings, and are barely able to hide these preferences.o Bureaucratic, organic organizational structures. Several of South Africa'sservice delivery agencies are still involved in a process of re-structuring sevenyears after the 1994 general election. More often than not this 'restructuring'refers to a state of structural mess - with meaningful service delivery apractical impossibility.Service delivery in South Africa has been enhanced by renewed emphasis onquality management and a drive towards increased transparency andaccountability. The formal structural framework for service delivery was improvedby introducing various Service Delivery Charters and the White Paper onTransformation of Public Service Delivery. However, the official service deliveryagencies are neglecting to properly implement these initiatives.So, has South Africa managed to achieve sustainable development? There aretwo perceptions regarding the answer to this question. The one holds the viewthat, in spite of the sincere and honest efforts of government to take the plight ofordinary South Africans seriously during the policy-making process, is it still hardto conclude that the ideal of sustainable development has been realised in SouthAfrica. A lot of houses have been built; the focus on clinical services has ensurethat primary health care services are now more readily available to ordinarySouth Africans - yes; for example But, perhaps the most damaging reflection onthe post-1994 government's performance in respect of development, come fromthe anti-apartheid veteran of so many years, Helen Suzman when she stated thatwhile I, like others, am greatly relieved that South Africa is rid of all the heinouslaws of the apartheid regime and immensely pleased at no longer being a citizenof a pariah country, my high hopes of a good performance by our newgovernment have not been realised.Government has failed to deliver on its promise of 'a better life for all.' True, I, asa privileged white, continue to live at the same high standard, but equally true,the standard of living of the majority of blacks have deteriorated.The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The ultimate test to determine whetheror not development has realized, for the purposes of this study, was the questionof whether or not there was an improvement in the quality of life of ordinarycitizens.The other viewpoint is best expressed by The Economist of 24 February 2001 atthe end of a series of articles which aim was to analyse the state of affairs inSouth Africa seven years after the 1994 general elections. The author concludedthat, whatever its shortcomings today, (South Africa) is a far happier placethan it used to be, and a far happier place than it might have been. In time, itmay yet fulfil the promise of the Mandela years.

[发布机构] University of the Free State