SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICIANS
SETTING A BENCHMARK FOR
INCOMPETENCE
Stes de Necker
One of life's more depressing experiences is to look at
the politicians occupying the benches of Parliament during a sitting. You will
find more intelligent-looking people on the stadium during a rugby match. Inability and incompetence proclaims itself
from almost every other face.
Appearances, I concede, are often deceptive, and among
these apparently bovine creatures there still lurks some razor-sharp minds. But
for any outsider looking at the TV broadcasts of our parliamentary debates,
will surely go away with the impression that our legislators are definitely not
all drawn from the upper echelons of our intellectual elite.
I believe we are all searching for an explanation as to
why so many things this Government does go so badly wrong. A long list can be
made from just a few days' news. During the past week alone we read of the
social grants disaster of the Minister of Social Development, the pathetic
debate on farm murders in South Africa and the frightening ANC policy on land reform
in this country.
Then there is the ever present debate on falling
educational standards in South Africa. A matric qualification has become pretty
meaningless, though the Government insists, despite much evidence to the
contrary, that standards have not been devalued. It also emerges that in our
much expanded school education system one student in four fails to complete their
school education.
In a very few days there has been an impressive crop of
stories that attest to general governmental incompetence, but almost every week
would throw up such examples.
Governing can be a challenging business and some problems
in politics are well nigh intractable.
Even the best laid plans can be upset. But
what is striking though in this country, is how many of the Government's
difficulties arise from self-inflicted wounds. It is brilliant at making
problems for itself where none should exist.
Weak, incompetent or inexperienced ministers are easily
dominated by civil servants, and when things go awry they are usually the ones
that get the blame. Strong, competent ministers who know what they want can
knock civil servants into shape and overcome many of their shortcomings.
The besetting sin of our new political class is not so
much stupidity, though there is plenty of evidence of that, as extreme inexperience.
No wonder politicians are so utterly incompetent. None of them has ever held
down a real job.
The curse of the majority of South Africa’s politicians is
that they know very little, (if anything), about governance and western democracy.
Most of South Africa’s black politicians grew up in the
traditional African ‘Chieftain’ system and to understand how this system has developed
and shaped most traditional institutions, it is necessary to understand the
history of the tribal system and the rules, norms, and spiritual beliefs of the
Chieftaincy institution.
In the traditional African ‘Chieftain’ system,
the tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribal societies with social stratification under a single (or dual)
leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal
structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout
the Iron Age.
In the case of indigenous tribal societies
existing within larger colonial and post-colonial states, many tribal chiefs
have continued to represent their tribe or ethnicity in some or other form of self-government.
South Africa needs to attract
more true democratic minded people into politics. However this will require,
for one thing, a break with the traditional indoctrinated ‘Chieftain’
system and the rules, norms, and spiritual beliefs of the Chieftaincy
institution.
The irony is that most South African politicians, fixated
on power and on a limited but guaranteed financial reward, often turns out not
to be professional at all, but bumbling amateurs who struggles to remain on top
of their brief.
And that is why it is a certain bet that, with
politicians like these, we will continue to read about one Government plan
after another going wrong.
Is it any wonder that such people, who really know
nothing about good governance should so often turn out to be inadequate
ministers?
No comments:
Post a Comment