The Mpumalanga government would apparently rather go under than abandon Affirmative Action (AA) to appoint competent individuals in management positions in the Legislature.
The FF Plus tabled an urgent motion on the matter last week and it was debated in the Legislature this morning (Friday).
There are too many government departments and entities without chief executives, or where the position is filled by a temporary appointment.
Both the Department of Health and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism have not had a Head of Department for months.
Instead of providing feedback on the vacant positions, the ANC opted to put forward the latest municipal intervention model as the answer to poor service delivery.
Unfortunately, nothing will come of the ANC's promises to improve basic service delivery at municipalities if service fees are not collected, and competent individuals are not appointed in key positions.
The ongoing service delivery protests in the province are indicative of the fact that there are serious problems in the public sector that have not been adequately addressed.
Municipalities' poor performance cannot be the only cause of these protests.
It is clear that there is a more serious issue underlying these problems, which may entail underperformance in all spheres of government.
It includes incompetent public officials, a lack of accountability, poor human resource management practices, flaws in procurement practices, and a lack of proper leadership.
Findings relating to the theme of expenditure management feature in the provincial Auditor-General's report every year. It indicates that public funds are not spent effectively and wisely.
The findings that feature most often include uncompetitive and unfair procurement processes, and internal control shortcomings in expenditure management.
These findings point to a lack of internal financial management measures, and a general lack of competence and skill in the financial departments of the public entities that were analysed.
If the root causes of these problems are not rectified and competent individuals are not appointed in oversight positions, non-compliance will soon become the norm in the culture of the public sector.
South Africa deserves better than the ANC.
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