President Cyril Ramaphosa appears to be undeterred from pushing ahead with his anti-graft strategy following a combative weekend with his corrupt cadres at an ANC National Executive Committee meeting. There was reportedly an attempt to oust Ramaphosa, with a public warning shot fired by former president Jacob Zuma in the form of an open letter slamming his successor.
Brushing himself off, Ramaphosa continued on Monday by taking aim at compromised and captured public servants. “As much as the ranks of our civil service comprise individuals committed to driving government’s programme of action, it has also over the years been associated with patronage. This is manifested through the appointment of people into senior positions based on considerations other than their capability to execute the tasks of the office they are appointed to,” he said in his weekly email to the nation.
Ramaphosa reckons we don’t have too many civil servants; they just need to be better at what they do and, more importantly, the graft-tainted need to go. ‘The view that the public service is bloated is misplaced…Public servants include officials and administrators, but they also include doctors, nurses, police men and women and teachers who play an invaluable role in keeping the wheels of our country turning,’ he argued.
But South Africa’s government employees are expensive by world standards, taking up about 12% of Gross Domestic Product, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. And that’s before you factor in the costs associated with inefficiency and the plundering of state entities and the concomitant erosion of investor confidence in the country.
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