Robert Cameron

Redefining political-administrative relationships in South Africa

This article is an overview of shifting political—administrative relationships in South Africa, with particular reference to growing politicization (partisan control of the bureaucracy). Studies of politicization of public services are important because political involvement in management has often led to negative effects on service delivery. The article sets out a theoretical framework for political—administrative relationships, examining the growing politicization of public services, the impact of New Public Management (NPM) and political—administrative relationships in developing countries. It then looks at political—administrative relationships in South Africa, including the apartheid history, the development of a new framework in the democratic South Africa and politicization in the staffing of the public service. It examines three functional areas — the decentralization of powers, contract appointments and performance management — and discusses the implications of this changing framework for service delivery. The methodology consisted of interviews with a number of senior government officials, including three current directors-general and a former Minister for the Public Service and Administration, an analysis of government legislation, Public Service Commission (PSC) data including surveys, unpublished data of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), policy papers of the African National Congress (ANC) and an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study of political involvement in bureaucracies. The article concludes that growing politicization of the public service has contributed to poor service delivery, and that the South African government needs to place greater emphasis on merit as the basis for appointments and promotions. Points for practitioners This article is useful for professionals working in public management and administration because it looks at the following debates and issues, which have practical implications: frameworks for understanding political—administrative relationships in the public service; the impact of the politicization of staff in the public service; and how merit-based appointment can improve government effectiveness. The article also offers lessons to developing countries wishing to create more professional public services.

Politics–Administration Interface: The Case of the City of Cape Town

This article is an analysis of a controversial policy decision on the part of the newly elected Democratic Alliance local administration in Cape Town, South Africa, to fire senior officials of the previous African National Congress administration and to introduce an interim policy for senior managers that stated that such positions should be filled by people who are ‘politically suitable and acceptable’ to the ruling party. The author of this article was part of a team that reviewed this policy. This article is an account of this process. The author developed, on the basis of comparative experience, a heuristic model that could serve as the basis for gauging the extent of politicians’ involvement in the appointment of staff. A continuum illustrating the different approaches to council appointment of staff was generated. Five different approaches were identified, namely neutral, minimalist appointment of senior staff, appointment of top and middle-level staff, large-scale appointment in all ranks and fusion of party/state. The report concluded that the most appropriate of these models is the minimalist appointment model whereby councillors should have the right to appoint certain selected senior staff.

Megacities in South Africa: A Solution for the New Millennium?

This article focuses on the area of metropolitan governance in South Africa. It traces its evolution and looks at the performance of metropolitan government in the three major cities in the country, namely Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. It then focuses on new government policy for metropolitan areas. Particular attention is paid to the impending introduction of unitary-tier structures (‘megacities’) in metropolitan areas. The findings of the article are that there is no conclusive local or international evidence to suggest that either the unitary- or two-tier model is a better system for dealing with metropolitan problems, or that institutional reform at local level is capable of bringing about major political change. There are undoubted theoretical advantages associated with unitary-tier structures. Two-tier systems are often characterized by duplication, inefficient use of resources and complex service arrangements. However, the costs of disrupting local government structures that have recently been put in place could well be far greater than any potential savings that can be made through the amalgamation of existing local structures into a megacity. Unitary structures should accordingly be introduced in a way that will minimize administrative disruption so that officials can focus on service delivery. Copyright

Central-Local Financial Relations in South Africa

The Republic of South Africa Constitution of 1996 vested local government with substantial powers. It uplifted local government from a subordinate level of government to a significant sphere within its own right with constitutionally entrenched functions, powers and finance. In a general overview of the South African local government reforms, it was suggested that the results of this decentralisation experiment are at best mixed, with increasing centralisation measures being undertaken by the national government (Cameron, 2001). This article focuses specifically on local government finance, which is undoubtedly the weak link in the new local government system. Prior to 1994, most local governments were elected by and served a small – predominantly white – base. There has been the transition to municipalities with many poor residents without any concomitant increase in the tax base. The first part of the article looks at a framework for decentralisation. It traces the evolution of local government finance in South Africa from the days of segregation and apartheid up to the current democratic era. The article examines the current local government finance system, with a focus on two different views in this regard. The one argument is that local government is inherently inefficient and poor financial management is the primary reason for financial problems. The other view is that the tax base of local government is too small for it to fulfil its constitutional service provision and development functions. An analysis is then undertaken of two recent local government financing controversies, namely, the local government boundary demarcation process and the Department of Financedriven constitutional amendment.

The Rhetoric and Reality of Local Government Reform

N. Dewar, in his article; ‘Municipal Government under the New South African Constitution: Who Gets What, Where, Who Decides, and Who Decides Who Decides?’ Social Dynamics, Vol. 11(2), argues that the new local government legislation could lead to individual ethnic groups having the space to enact legislation which could precipitate fundamental changes to national level structures. This paper argues against this view because there is a great difference between the stated government commitment to devolution of power and the reality of local government legislation which is characterised by increased state centralisation of powers. Both forms of local government structures, Regional Services Councils and Primary Local Authorities are going to be under such tight state control that the possibility of using them to challenge national structures is negligible, neglibible. Local government restructuring must be seen as part of a broader state strategy to defuse political unrest and restructure the economy. This a...

Local government boundary demarcation: the case of the Western Cape Metropolitan Area substructures

ABSTRACT South Africas fledging democracy is two years old. One of the most bitter constitutional conflicts which has emerged so far, has been the demarcation dispute around the Western Cape Metropolitan Area substructures. This dispute was between the African National Congress – dominated Government of National Unity and the National Party – controlled Western Cape Provincial Government. This paper is an analysis of this demarcation dispute. It concludes that the outcome of this dispute threw up certain ironies. Firstly, the National Party ended up implicitly agreeing with the demarcation option that it had for so long vehemently rejected, namely the amalgamation of Khayelitsha with Tygerberg. Secondly, the National Party referred the demarcation dispute in order to strengthen provincial powers. However, it ended up with less provincial powers than it had started off with.

Decentralisation: a framework for analysis

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to develop a framework for analysis which can be used to measure the degree of decentralisation in a given society. It is contended that there is no universal theory of decentralisation which can be deductively applied. Accordingly, the level of analysis is middle‐range. The article attempts to develop a theoretical framework for analysis which can measure the degree of decentralisation in a given society. Certain indices which can measure decentralisation are identified and examined. These indices are personnel, access, functions, party politics, finance, hierarchical relations and size.

A critique of South Africa: The solution

South Africa: The Solution by LEON LOUVV and FRANCES KENDALL Amagi Publications, Bisho (Ciskei), 1986. xvi plus 237 pages including maps, figures, diagrams, illustrations, notes, appendices and bibliography. R14,95 paperback.

The State of Public Administration as an Academic Field in South Africa

This article is an overview of the state of scholarship in South African Public Administration. It begins by looking at the state of Public Administration research internationally. This is followed by an analysis of the literature on the state of the field in South Africa which focuses on empirical studies undertaken of the quality of articles both in local Public Administration journals and PhDs in the field. The findings of these studies were that Public Administration research in South Africa in respect of both journal articles and doctoral theses is of a low quality. The article suggests that Politikon along with the South African Political Science community needs to cultivate closer links with those in the Public Administration community who are interested in doing critical research on public bureaucracies.

The Cape Town City council: a public policy analysis, 1976–1986

Abstract This paper examines the nature of the public policy of the Cape Town City Council (CCC) from 1976 until 1986. Among the major variables analysed are the CCCs political complexion, the class background of the councillors, the CCCs organisational structure, the policy process and the role of bureaucrats in this process. The CCCs relationship with its supervisory body, the Cape Provincial Administration (CPA), is examined as are the rather thorny relationships with its Management Committees. The article is concluded by analysing the substance of CCCs liberal policy, with particular reference to its allocation of funds.