Action man: Gayton McKenzie can do a lot of good. Picture: Henk Kruger/ Independent Newspapers
It’s not going to be easy for our new ministers.
I am talking about the ones who are from parties other than the ANC.
Our new Government of National Unity is made up of ten parties and they have all been given positions at the very top levels of our executive, as ministers and deputy ministers.
Here’s the problem.
The ANC has openly engaged in years of cadre deployment at all levels of government. It’s safe to say that the majority of ordinary civil servants are also ANC supporters.
Some of them may not be happy with carrying out the instructions of a minister from another party.
Take Gayton McKenzie for example. I believe he can do a lot of good for society with his portfolio of Sports, Arts and Culture. But he may have to contend with a staff that doesn’t necessarily like him, or share his vision.
They may also be inclined to sabotage his efforts in subtle ways, by simply performing their assigned tasks badly.
Remember, it’s not easy to fire a civil servant for poor work performance. There are processes that can take months; sometimes even years.
Depending on the position such a person holds, it could easily scupper Gayton’s plans.
If there are enough such incidents, or if they are coordinated to any extent, he may find himself unwillingly playing the role of a ceremonial minister with no power - unable to implement anything.
I have seen things like this happen on a number of different levels over the years.
Even at municipal level, some executives are unable to get a job done, because those responsible for the actual work, sympathise with another party; and they don’t want that executive to get any credit for excellence.
So while our new ministers took an oath to serve the people above all, the practicality of the matter is that their jobs will turn out to be a minefield that is not easy to negotiate.
This enemy from within is a challenge they would not have had to deal with before.
Within their own parties, it would’ve been easy to reach a consensus and the worker bees would have been all too happy to rally around and help execute instructions from the top.
The new dynamic is going to be a shock to the system for the likes of Gayton and Pieter Groenewald, who as leader of the FF+ is seen by some as a racist who wants to look after the interests of whites only.
How is he going to convince his largely black staff to follow his instructions and that those instructions are beneficial to all?
Ideologically, the GNU is an overall force for good, but the day-to-day operations may turn out to be a bad dream for some of the new ministers.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za
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