An enormous gulf exists between the levels of service provided by different provinces, a Democratic Alliance (DA) study has found.
”If you are poor and reliant on the state for health, education and housing, the best provinces to live in are the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West,” DA spokesperson Willem Doman said on Monday.
”The two provinces who shared joint last place, on the basis of a dismal analysis of their performance by the Auditor General (AG), were the Northern Cape and the Free State,” he told a media briefing at Parliament.
Given the copious evidence of corruption and neglect in these provinces, one could conclude that these two provinces were the worst places in the country to live. They were followed closely by the Eastern Cape.
Doman said three key departments — housing, health and education — held the key to fulfilling the government’s promise of a better life for all.
While some housing delivery and healthcare took place at local level, the primary responsibility for the provision of these key services rested with the provinces.
The DA analysed the AG’s reports for 2005/06 for each of these 27 departments to see how effectively they carried out their responsibilities.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to properly evaluate Mpumalanga, because of the inadequacy of the AG’s reports of two of the three departments.
It was not clear whether this was because of the state of these departments’ records, or because of failures on the part of the provincial AG’s office.
The worst two departments in the country appeared to be the Free State housing department and the Northern Cape health department, with both departments being ”so riddled with corruption, maladministration and inefficiency that their capacity to carry out their functions is massively impeded”.
”While an evaluation such as this is inevitably subjective, there are many aspects of performance that are common to all the AG’s reports and it is possible to compare performance against these standards,” Doman said.
Four critical factors — corruption, checks and balances, human resources and evidence of delivery — were taken into account.
Doman said the lesson from the reports was that the systems in place for managing government business through provincial administrations could work effectively.
However, some special interventions were required for weaker provinces, and particular departments within these provinces, to allow them to deliver on their mandates more effectively.
The reports made it clear that the interventions required did not revolve around money, but rather around the enforcement of good governance practices.
”First and foremost, the three top performers demonstrate that where the political will exists, many constraints can be overcome.
”A real commitment from the executives to making workable policies, and implementing them effectively, is a critical factor,” he said.
The employment practices in the weakest provinces needed to be looked at.
While South Africa admittedly faced a skills crisis, it was clear from these reports that many people were appointed to key positions without having the necessary skills to do their jobs, and that appropriate criteria were not being used in employment evaluations.
”It is also apparent that many provinces need assistance with the development of policies and procedures that they are required to have in terms of legislation, but simply do not have the capacity to develop themselves.
”If these requirements are in place, it will at least then be possible to properly evaluate the performance of the relevant officials,” he said.
Concern over new police intakes
Meanwhile, the DA on Monday said that proper training and logistical structures are needed to be put in place to support the new 50 000 South African Police Service (SAPS) recruits.
”Given the well-cited shortage of bullet-proof vests for current members, what plans are in place to ensure that the new intakes are issued with complete kits and have sufficient vehicles, radios and other equipment available,” DA spokesperson on safety and security Dianne Kohler Barnard said in a statement.
She said in recruiting the 50 000 members to raise the number of police officers to 178 910 in the country, several logistical and administrative issues needed to be addressed.
”It is all very well and necessary to call for higher numbers of SAPS members, but does the SAPS have the training and logistical structures to support these people?” she asked. — Sapa