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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has linked his cabinet reshuffle to a larger goal. As he said:
We are unwavering in our determination to build a capable state that is competently led and that responds effectively to the needs of the people.
Achieving this vision will require a transformation in the way South Africans view how to achieve public goals – one that puts people and problem solving first, rather than preoccupation with plans and processes. systems.
South Africans of many ideological shades have in their minds a picture of the public sector as a well-oiled, top-down machine – always effective in achieving clear goals set by planners and political leaders. “Plan well. “” Coordinate effectively. “Fix the systems.”
These become the mantras of reform. But the pursuit of these diktats will not get the country where it needs to go.
On the one hand, the image of a well-oiled machine assumes an omniscience that no organization, public or private, actually has. On the other hand, reforming systems is a laborious process; its gains are measured in years, with service quality gains only occurring after the upstream improvements have been implemented. Hurry up.
More fundamentally, the preoccupation with plans and systems ignores a reality that is increasingly recognized around the world – that in developing workable means, context matters. Even where bureaucratic “isolation” seems to prevail, public administrative systems are embedded in politics.
In some contexts, basic political, economic and social conditions support top-down bureaucratic machines. Such conditions are far removed from current realities in South Africa.
Read more: The way forward for South Africa: Ditch old ideas, embrace bold experimentation
But South Africa’s current public sector challenges are anything but unique. Indeed, as counterintuitive as it may sound to many South Africans, its public sector performs somewhat better than that of most other middle-income countries and almost all low-income countries. Yet many countries, even in the midst of the mess, have managed to make gains.
How? ‘Or’ What?
By focusing on the problems and on the people.
Problems and people
Focusing on concrete issues overcomes endless preoccupation with empty initiatives – endless reform plans, endless upstream consultation processes. Performative rather than practical processes, too general to lead anywhere. Instead, gains in public capacity may come from a different path – through learning by doing, focusing in an action-oriented way on very specific challenges, and mobilizing energy for them. to be reported by the responsible departments (or individual public enterprises).
Action to solve concrete problems must, of course, come from South African officials. How to evoke their sense of agency?
As you engage with South African public officials, you quickly discover that even the best of them are deeply disappointed with their experiences. Yet many continue to have a deep reservoir of commitment to service. Talking about commitment is a classic challenge facing managers around the world. As Francis Fukuyama says:
All good managers (private and public) know that it is ultimately informal norms and group identities that will most strongly motivate workers in an organization to do their best. cultivate the right “organizational culture” only to set formal lines of authority.
Beyond the public sector, what about South African citizens in general?
Focusing on people also involves transforming the relationship between the public sector and civil society (including the private sector). For both good and bad reasons, public officials generally engage with civil society with caution. The good reason is that such relationships can all too easily fester in corrupt ways in the shadows. The bad reason is a more widespread distrust – fueled by a combination of arrogance, fear and inertia – in stepping out of the comfort zone of tightly managed bureaucratic processes.
The benefits of a transformed relationship can be significant. It can serve as a basis for new cross-cutting alliances between reformers in the public sector and reformers in civil society, at national, provincial and local levels. Investing in such alliances can help development-oriented stakeholders overcome resistance to change, including fending off predation.
To renew a relationship, all parties must change their behavior. What new behaviors should civil society learn?
Civil society and transparency
Shaped by its history, South Africa’s civil society organizations typically focus on government accountability. This is a narrow view of the role of civil society in a democracy. Indeed, it can sometimes have the unintended consequence of fueling cynicism and despair, thereby exacerbating the dysfunction. The Global Partnership for Social Responsibility highlights how less confrontational approaches can add value:
We have learned that focusing solely on reviewing and verifying government actions may have limited value in our problem solving. When committed to focusing on the problem at hand, civil society, citizens and public sector actors are better able to come up with collaborative solutions, especially when prioritizing learning . When social accountability mechanisms are isolated from public sector processes, they are not as effective as collaborative governance. Collective action requires efforts that build bridges.
Transparency remains the key. Transparency in how civil society engages with public sector officials can reduce the risk that more collaborative governance becomes a vehicle for corrupt collusion. Transparency about results can signal citizens that public resources are not wasted but help improve results. The combination of participation and transparency can help strengthen social solidarity and the legitimacy of the public domain.
As Ramaphosa said in his cabinet reshuffle speech:
The task of rebuilding our economy and our society requires urgency and focus. This requires cooperation between all sectors of society and the active participation of all South Africans.
Or, according to the classic Hugh Masekela song (quoted by Ramaphosa in his first State of the Nation address to parliament as president in early 2018, “Thuma Mina.” Email me.
This article is based on an article that appeared in The Conversation’s “foundation” series.
Brian Levy does not work, consult, own stock or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any relevant affiliation beyond his academic position.
By Brian Levy, Professor of International Development Practice, Johns Hopkins University
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