Oh, Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo! - I'm referring to the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale - how did you come up with the idea of punishing some citizens for the sins of the ANC's cadre deployment and public service incompetence?
In this context, even the Western Cape, which is not on the ANC's watch, is part of the problem.
That your government, at all three tiers, cannot manage the performance of its employees - with dire consequences for service delivery - is no fault of the citizens of this country.
The Department of Human Settlements announced this week that it had withdrawn the housing grants of two provinces which were slow in spending the funds allocated to the government's low-cost housing programme.
KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State forfeited a combined R463-million in grants because they had failed to meet their monthly targets. How many houses would this be? The number must run into thousands.
The funds were re-allocated to the Northern Cape and Limpopo, which have met their housing targets. Another portion was allocated to provinces for fixing low-cost houses which were defective owing to shoddy workmanship.
On one level, you may be tempted to applaud the ministry for re-allocating the budget to provinces that have proved to have the interests of their electorates at heart. In years past, the unused funds would have rolled over to the following financial year or would have been returned to national Treasury.
The decision by the department is commendable up to a point, since the money will be used for housing projects in other provinces. However, it is not the solution to the problem of a government administration that is filled with people who haven't a clue what they are doing or the will to provide basic social services to citizens.
A report released by the Treasury in November last year showed that, together with the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape had been among the under-performing provinces in the delivery of houses to the poor.
Halfway through the financial year, they had spent less than 35% of the money.
Ironically, the Free State had received R100-million from allocations that weren't spent by other provinces in the 2009/10 financial year, which makes me question the basis on which the re-allocation was made if it now turns out the province wasn't able to utilise the current budget.
The Northern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West had spent less than 45%.
Not a pretty picture all round for a country that has a housing backlog that is estimated to be in the millions.
Instead of imposing punitive measures on citizens - the people who will be adversely affected by the decision to withdraw the housing grants - couldn't the minister rather have insisted on competent staff being in place before the funds were released?
Where is the minister in charge of the performance and monitoring of public servants when you need him?
I'm no expert on these issues, but the key, surely, must be to have competent staff and proper performance-management systems.
If found wanting, staff should be fired.
I'm well aware that there is a process that needs to be followed before sacking an employee, but the announcement by the human settlements ministry must be accompanied by a remedial programme of action. It is not good enough to be told that the provinces which were identified as having problems in October last year weren't able to develop recovery plans to meet their targets.
What would be the point of the much-publicised service agreements between the president and his ministers and the entire chain of government servants, if they are not held to account for service delivery?
The MECs for housing in the provinces and the Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, must explain what action will be taken now that it has become apparent that some of their employees are not performing their duties.
After all, Chabane did promise that there would be quarterly reviews, which would be used to monitor the performance of ministers and rectify the situation.
This practice, applicable in the private sector, must surely apply to everyone in the public sector as well.
But do politicians have the will to follow proper performance-management systems, which could put them at odds with comrades or whites who obtained sheltered employment in the public sector?
It is unfair for the communities of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to be denied roofs over their heads while inefficiency is allowed to reign in order to keep the political aspirations of ministers alive.
- Timeslive
In this context, even the Western Cape, which is not on the ANC's watch, is part of the problem.
That your government, at all three tiers, cannot manage the performance of its employees - with dire consequences for service delivery - is no fault of the citizens of this country.
The Department of Human Settlements announced this week that it had withdrawn the housing grants of two provinces which were slow in spending the funds allocated to the government's low-cost housing programme.
KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State forfeited a combined R463-million in grants because they had failed to meet their monthly targets. How many houses would this be? The number must run into thousands.
The funds were re-allocated to the Northern Cape and Limpopo, which have met their housing targets. Another portion was allocated to provinces for fixing low-cost houses which were defective owing to shoddy workmanship.
On one level, you may be tempted to applaud the ministry for re-allocating the budget to provinces that have proved to have the interests of their electorates at heart. In years past, the unused funds would have rolled over to the following financial year or would have been returned to national Treasury.
The decision by the department is commendable up to a point, since the money will be used for housing projects in other provinces. However, it is not the solution to the problem of a government administration that is filled with people who haven't a clue what they are doing or the will to provide basic social services to citizens.
A report released by the Treasury in November last year showed that, together with the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape had been among the under-performing provinces in the delivery of houses to the poor.
Halfway through the financial year, they had spent less than 35% of the money.
Ironically, the Free State had received R100-million from allocations that weren't spent by other provinces in the 2009/10 financial year, which makes me question the basis on which the re-allocation was made if it now turns out the province wasn't able to utilise the current budget.
The Northern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West had spent less than 45%.
Not a pretty picture all round for a country that has a housing backlog that is estimated to be in the millions.
Instead of imposing punitive measures on citizens - the people who will be adversely affected by the decision to withdraw the housing grants - couldn't the minister rather have insisted on competent staff being in place before the funds were released?
Where is the minister in charge of the performance and monitoring of public servants when you need him?
I'm no expert on these issues, but the key, surely, must be to have competent staff and proper performance-management systems.
If found wanting, staff should be fired.
I'm well aware that there is a process that needs to be followed before sacking an employee, but the announcement by the human settlements ministry must be accompanied by a remedial programme of action. It is not good enough to be told that the provinces which were identified as having problems in October last year weren't able to develop recovery plans to meet their targets.
What would be the point of the much-publicised service agreements between the president and his ministers and the entire chain of government servants, if they are not held to account for service delivery?
The MECs for housing in the provinces and the Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, must explain what action will be taken now that it has become apparent that some of their employees are not performing their duties.
After all, Chabane did promise that there would be quarterly reviews, which would be used to monitor the performance of ministers and rectify the situation.
This practice, applicable in the private sector, must surely apply to everyone in the public sector as well.
But do politicians have the will to follow proper performance-management systems, which could put them at odds with comrades or whites who obtained sheltered employment in the public sector?
It is unfair for the communities of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to be denied roofs over their heads while inefficiency is allowed to reign in order to keep the political aspirations of ministers alive.
- Timeslive
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