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OPINION: What is causing mayhem in South African society?

September 4, 2019 9:14 am by: Category: Analysis, Arts & Culture, BUSINESS, ENTERTAINMENT, Featured, Investing, OPINION & ANALYSIS Leave a comment A+ / A-
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (centre) with ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe (left) and deputy president David Mabuza

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (centre) with ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe (left) and deputy president David Mabuza

by LUKE ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG – SOUTH Africans citizens use Violence to draw attention to non-responsive government.

What is causing mayhem in South African society and the attacks on foreign migrant businesses and burning of trucks. It is an economic battle. In the United States of America (USA), Canada and Australia; these countries realize value in some foreign nationals, and facilitate them to start businesses.

But elements of South African society attack foreign nationals and trucks to draw attention of their government. They say government does not listen to them. And it is true.

I am researcher with South African Development Foundation (Sadef). We are not funded by donors. Our efforts are genuinely to find economic solutions for South Africa and other African countries, by designing models which are practical taking into account local scenarios.

After more than 200 communications from 2014 the President, Cyril Ramaphosa is not aware what we are submitting. The Director General (DG) may eventually know but does not respond.

He knows the Minister and President will never discover. The key persons in a department are the Director General and the Minister.

The Director General controls the budgets and hires employees for the department according to the current operations. Each employee has a job description in running the department.

There is nobody hired to receive submissions from the public and process them up the ladder to the DG or Minister or to search for new ideas from citizens.

Citizens have brilliant solutions and more so they want to speak to somebody, even if the idea fails, but nobody is available. Submissions to the department land at the lower levels or at the DG department where workers there search for key words to direct submissions from office to office, but nothing is done.

The DG does not know, and therefore does not supervise where a submission ends or whether the matter is acted on. The workers are aware nobody will ever know. If the DG is not aware nothing is acted on.

Whatever citizens send to government ends up lost somewhere or dumped to waste and the matters therein ignored. There is the problem!

The Minister is on similar dilemma. The DG works around the Minister, organizing his engagements, movements, budgets, meetings etc. The DG is very busy and has no way of knowing what citizens are bringing into the department unless some lower employer is so daring to go out of his or her routine job description to evaluate submissions and bring it to the attention of the DG.

It is very rare as there is nobody employed to attend to matters which are not routine. The Minister has a Personal Assistant (PA), who, as a matter of routine, takes every incoming communication to the DG or to the Ministers Special Advisor.

The Minister does know what is coming into his/her department unless it is of political matter which the department workers do not handle. The Minister does nothing until and unless there is a recommendation by the DG.

At the end of the day the Minister and the President do not know what is arriving into their departments, until the DG tells them, until there is a recommendation from the technocrats.

So is the Premier. DGs are running the country.

Promises politicians made during electioneering can never be accomplished. At best it is the DG, who the nation rely on, not the Minister or the President, who are behind the scenes, closed out.

If there is no recommendation the Honourable President cannot act, has nothing of his own, nothing despite appearing on TV and asking for ways to improve economy.

The President receives his messages screened by the DG. People can’t reach the Minister and the President by approaching the department.

The DG is more distant. So, who is answerable?

Politicians think technocrats or DGs know. No, technocrats are idiots. Most of Masters graduates went through the same Ivy League doctrine, which narrows them to copy the bank rule and say ‘there is no funding to start the business’ or ‘start the business from your own capital’.

They know nothing else other than economic models around the bank rule, which holding African economies down.

Who suffers – is black citizens can’t enter business? DGs ignore all other recommendations, they do not respond to submissions.

If any response it is cold, brazen, brief and they do not invite any discussions. Citizens’ frustrations boil to rage. The DG has no political responsibility. The Minister and President have political responsibility but are behind the DG or Municipal Managers. WHY?

– CAJ News

NB: Luke Zunga is a Chartered Secretary and Corporate Governance. For feedback, write, news@cajnewsafrica.com

OPINION: What is causing mayhem in South African society? Reviewed by on . [caption id="attachment_11074" align="alignleft" width="300"] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (centre) with ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe (left) [caption id="attachment_11074" align="alignleft" width="300"] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (centre) with ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe (left) Rating: 0

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