Dr Pali Lehohla is the former Statistician-General of South Africa and the former head of Statistics South Africa. Photo: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)
AS AN unacceptable example of government failure, even today, the government announces that as a priority for future implementation, that service providers should be paid within 30 days.
And how long have we heard this? A broken record promise with the needle never moving.
This article discusses how the fervent business process outsourcing in the public service arena typified the zeal for privatisation as an irresponsible and corrupt buffer serving to conceal public servants from delivering services to the public and avoiding to account for their presence as public servants.
My leadership principles draw on what the outcome is. Don’t keep on telling me the proposed inputs and execution strategy, that is not measured.
Yet in the government bureaucracy hierarchy they report on inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts and get rewarded with bonuses for this loosely arranged accountability framework.
The way we measure accountability has become a bit like the tale of a fisherman’s proud account of the size of a fish. We need a proper scale.
In my time at Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) as the Statistician-General, all official mobile numbers starting with mine were public.
Many were fearful that the number would be abused, but in my 22 years of service at StatsSA, I never received an abusive call from the public. What I received was useful and direct feedback often times from irate public and junior employees of StatsSA. This helped me to take immediate and corrective action and improve service to both the public and employees.
I found value in thinking about what the desired intended outcome was to plot the best course of action. This was very much to the displeasure of some of my direct reports and those immediately below them. By doing so within a short space of time the mighty organisation resolved the 30 days’ payment procurement process and clean audits had become the norm.
By the time I left office we were just under 21 days of payments to service providers. StatsSA generously shared this approach with other government departments. That today the sixth administration is still stuck with this malady just boggles the mind.
I am reminded that about September 14, 2009, when irked by poor bureaucratic response to public demands for better service, then president Jacob Zuma launched a call centre which within the first day had received 7 261 calls in the first three hours of its opening. The president himself took two calls on that day. But what happened to this call centre in years that followed is a matter for historians. The government and municipalities are replete with these useless call centres that serve as a buffer from the public to directly access municipal officials. It is called passing the buck. It once more is a buffer that lacks true accountability.
In my “area” of Val de Grace in the Tshwane City Council, recently for eight days in succession I contacted this call centre, and over 30 or so calls, the only answer I got from the centre was the matter is being escalated. I felt like I was riding the James Webb Telescope, which continues escalating millions of miles into space, but with the exception that for James Webb, it sends images through its infrared camera back to Earth.
Only after several attempts was I lucky to get a lady who gave me the desired outcome: the telephone number of the municipality official’s name and number. Yet luck should not be part of public service, guarantees should be.
And luck was ultimately not on my side either. When I called 012 734 6017, which my TrueCaller picked as Joy Rayton, the message on the telephone said “the number has been changed and a new number is under construction – the call is free of charge”.
The question is what use is the call centre if it is just a conveyor belt that stops the public from accessing the proper channels.
Option one, two and three and an operator does not help solve bigger problems that are outside of a fixed box on the bureaucratic conveyor belt. Where is the go-to person for bigger issues. Countless South Africans are trapped in this nightmare of lack of accountability, which wastes both time and money. Especially, when one is passed from pillar to post.
Yet on another occasion, on a Sunday a week ago, I was at the airport on an international trip and I called Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, drawing his attention to the long queues and people missing their flights. There were only four immigration officers serving these snaking queues.
In five minutes Motsoaledi called back and he said I would have not known about this problem, thank you for alerting me. The emigration section should have had nine officials serving and not four. Somebody is now fired. The outcome of long queues was evidence that informed us what the problem was.
It reminds me of the tale of the dog that seeks comfort in hay and barks loudly and chases cows away from consuming hay in order for it to enjoy a nap. Yet upon seeing its master, the dog furiously wags its tail in the excitement and anticipation of getting milk as a reward from the master. But this after having victimised the cows that produced the milk.
For President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed, the public is tired of hearing the record list of inputs the government promises to action. The proof is always in the pudding.
Dr Pali Lehohla is the former Statistician-General of South Africa and the former head of Statistics South Africa. Meet him @Palilj01 and at www.pie.org.za
*The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL or of title sites.
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