Public Administration in Africa

Performance and Challenges

Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad, Lukamba-Muhiya. Tshombe, Ernest Peprah Ababio

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781439888803
• eBook ISBN: 9781351552752
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

With contributions from leading regional scholars, Public Administration in Africa: Performance and Challenges examines the complexities of the art of governance from the unique African perspective. The editors bring together a cohesive study of the major issues and regions by taking an analytic approach with the strong problem-solution application. Regions addressed range from South Africa, Congo, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, and Botswana. Themes include colonialism, reform, poverty, economy, decentralization, financing, media, political structures, and more.

Beginning with an analysis of the relationship of policy design and its destination, service delivery, the book discusses the historical development of a state that has gone through upheavals in government and explores a decayed political economy that ultimately results in a need for sweeping measures. The text examines the issues emerging policy-makers in Africa must tackle, namely poverty and the denial or lack of resources to keep a dignified human life. It highlights how the media can be a catalyst for good governance and provides analytical aspects of implementing good governance reforms.

The book concludes with an examination of the concepts of decentralization and devolution in measuring service delivery performance and an exploration of Africa's economic success story. It also details the African Peer Review Mechanisms in selected African countries and provides a holistic analysis of local government functioning in Africa. These features and more make it an interdisciplinary reference for diverse social, economic, political, and administrative issues.

Chapter 1
Governance Apparatus in South Africa: From Policy Design to Service Delivery

Gerrit van der Waldt

Contents

Introduction

State, Society, and Constitutionalism

The Architecture of Government’s Apparatus

From Policy Design to Service Delivery: Clarifying the Value Chain

Policy and Service Delivery

Service Delivery Innovations

South Africa’s Governance Scene at a Glance

Apparatus of the South African Government

The Executive Authority

The Legislative Authority

The Judiciary

Value Chain Integration: The System of Cooperative Government

Conclusion

References

Introduction

Most modern conceptions about the ideal state began with the reflections of Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. In the long history of statehood and political thought, the meanings ascribed to such ideals, however, have been variously modified and should be understood within the context of a particular state. The dominant culture and ideology prevalent in a state will, for example, ultimately influence the way a government structures itself in order to reflect the conceptions and conventions that the public attaches to the ideal or best way government should govern. Should the government not reflect these conceptions and conventions, the public will usually replace the ruling party in government—peacefully at the ballot box or violently through a coup d’etat (revolutionary overthrough of government). It is thus critical for any government to utilize its apparatus optimally to adhere to the social contract between those that govern and those who are governed.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the apparatus that governments, in general, and South Africa, in particular, utilizes in order to perform those roles and functions assigned to it. In the context of this chapter, the term apparatus should be understood in its widest application referring to organizational arrangements and systems, structures, processes, equipment, methods, and operations utilized by government institutions, agencies, and entities to perform their governance functions. It thus refers to the totality of means by which a system of government performs its functions. The application of such an apparatus enables government to unpack the processes in a value chain from policy design to service delivery. The apparatus of government thus makes it possible to bridge the gap between policy intent and actual changes to the conditions of people on grassroots level.

A brief reflection of the role of the state in society will first be provided to set the governance scene. An overview of the South African constitutional dispensation—the architecture of government—will follow to clarify the system of cooperative government and the way government interacts on national, provincial, and local spheres, as well as between legislative, executive, and judiciary tiers. An exploration of the value chain from policy design to policy implementation (service delivery) will follow to highlight the significance of governance apparatus in the process.

Lastly, a brief synopsis of the South African government’s apparatus on the respective spheres and tiers of government will be provided.

State, Society, and Constitutionalism

An analysis of public affairs is incomplete without contemplating the role of the state and its governance structure, the government, in society. The origin of a state can typically be traced back to its traditions, culture, ideology, history, environmental conditions, and so forth. Public officials and political representatives can only meaningfully fulfill their obligations if they appreciate the role that public institutions should play in society. Furthermore, any judgment of the “goodness” of a government is only possible if the criteria to measure its performance are known. Clarification of the role of a state, and its government apparatus to govern, should thus expose the criteria that citizens ascribe to the goodness of it.

Debates about the role of the state in society emerged with philosophers like Plato and Cicero. One theory about how political authority can arise is social contract theory. According to the original proponents of this theory, John Locke, David Hume, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, consent is the basis of government. It is because people have agreed to be ruled that governments are entitled to rule. Citizens of a country come together and form contracts that serve their interests, and these contracts establish rule (Jenks 1900). In other words, people agree that they need a collective body, a state, to maintain social order in its broadest sense. This implies that people give up some of their rights to a government in order to maintain order. Locke’s political philosophy holds that citizens enter into a social contract under which the state provides certain services to its citizens. This contract, however, works both ways: not only must the state govern according to certain acceptable conventions, but also it prescribes how citizens should behave. If they disobey certain conditions of civil order and rule of law, the state has the right to intervene with its apparatus to maintain order (Barker 1960). The apparatus typically utilized in this respect includes the police service, the judiciary, and in more severe cases, the defense force and intelligence services. This contract principle lies at the foundation of public administration as discipline. As an applied social science public administration must equip civil servants to serve the people. People place government, and its officials, in their trust to provide them with services and products.

The social contract usually results in a constitution for the state. The design of a constitution is the next step in the development of societal order. Its purpose is to establish principles, values, institutions, procedures, duties, and structures that persist from one ruling party to the next (see Carneiro 1967). With the constitution, as the highest authority of the state, elected representatives of the people establish laws, and permanent public officials are appointed to implement and uphold these laws. In the case of South Africa, no apparatus of the state may exercise any powers not duly delegated to it, or do so in a way that is not consistent with shared values, ideology, established structures, or procedures defined by the constitution. The constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 came into effect on February 4, 1997. This is the highest law in South Africa, and no other law or government action can overrule the constitution or be in conflict with it. South Africa’s constitution is regarded as one of the most progressive in the world and is based on the values of dignity, equality, and freedom.

Any breaches of the social contract in society could lead to conflict and even civil war. Sustaining the social contract therefore depends in large part on so ordering the constitution and laws as to avoid unbalanced or excessive concentrations of power, whether in the public or the private sector. In framing the constitution of South Africa, for example, political representatives had to address the problem of avoiding unbalanced or excessive concentrations of power in government by adopting a constitution in which legislative, executive, and judicial powers are largely divided among separate branches, with each having some power to check the potential abuses of the others. This is known as the trias politica principle, which refers to the separation of state powers. In statehood these powers typically refer to legislative (policy making), executive (policy execution), and judiciary (legal) powers.

Constitutional rule in a state is further connected with the question whether it is better to be ruled by the best man (represented by a political party) or the best laws, since a government that consults the good of its subjects is also a government in accordance with law. The supremacy of law is generally accepted as a mark of a good state. In Plato’s work the Statesman, he makes government by law and government by wise rulers alternatives. It could be argued, however, that even the wisest ruler cannot dispense with law because the law has an impersonal quality that no man, however good, can attain. In this regard Aristotle argued that law is “reason unaffected by desire.”

From the perspective highlighted above, the notions of rule of law and constitutional supremacy arose. This means that the highest authority in a truly democratic country is not the president, ruling party, or parliament, but the constitution. The validity of all decisions taken by political representatives or officialdom is tested against the spirit and stipulations of the constitution. In a constitutional dispensation the constitution itself is the yardstick and indispensable condition of a moral, just, and civilized society. A constitution can thus be regarded as the fundamental principles and rules according to which a state is governed (Pylee 1997).

A constitution further prescribes the basic human rights of citizens and the powers of government. Fundamental rights usually revolve around life, liberty, and property. In maintaining these rights in society, the functioning of government apparatus may sometimes come into conflict with the exercise of the rights of members of society. To maintain the common good, it is therefore critical that an independent judiciary judge the legality of any government action—or inaction.

The Architecture of Government’s Apparatus

As ascertained in the previous section, a state exists to facilitate the common good in society. To facilitate adherence to the common good, that is, the welfare, prosperity, and safety of civil society, a government needs to structure itself in such a way that it could utilize resources optimally, distribute services and products fairly and equitably, and accomplish certain strategic objectives. As a collective entity, it is vital that government institutions pursue collective goals. To pursue these goals the macro organizational design of government is critical.

There is significant terminological diversity and a general lack of clarity regarding the concept governance—mainly attributed to the wide scope of its potential applications. Governance is further applied in many different settings and disciplinary domains. Hirst (2000), for example, unpacks at least five versions of governance, or five different areas in which it is applied:

• ■ Governance in economic development and in the context of international development agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
• ■ Governance in terms of international relations and international regimes
• ■ Corporate governance or governance in private corporations
• ■ Governance as new public management
• ■ Negotiated social governance that is representative of networks, partnerships, and various deliberative forms

It is evident that the content ascribed to governance could vary in relation to the details of its application, purpose, context, as well as the instruments utilized to govern. On the basis of this, good governance could be taken to refer to the efficient and effective management of public resources and problems in dealing with the critical needs of the society (Kjaer 2004). Kaufmann, Kraay, and Zoido (1999) argue that good governance and sound public sector management constitute the major mechanisms of social order and prosperity.

On the African continent, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has been in the forefront of the good governance debate. This debate typically centers around the interrelationship between good governance and economic development. UNECA, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank, and other agencies, has developed indicators to determine the level of goodness of countries. Among these indicators are

• ■ The extent to which the state minimizes the impact of civil strife and communal violence and institutes mechanisms for promoting peace, political stability, and security.
• ■ The extent to which the key governance institutions of the judiciary, legislative, and executive are functioning effectively and exercise institutional check and balance.
• ■ The extent to which the public management system is perceived to be effective, accountable, transparent, and has integrity.
• ■ The level of freedom of association and expression; existence of a conducive and enabling environment for citizen’s initiatives and activities and for encouraging the development of viable civil society organizations.
• ■ The ready availability and free flow of information to permit informed public discussions on national issues and policies. This will make it possible for accountability to be practiced, laws to be fairly and correctly applied, and watchdog institutions to function freely.

Furthermore, Hyden and Braton (1993), Batley and Larbi (2004), and Van der Waldt (2004) identified various characteristics of good governance that include elements such as the degree of trust in government, the degree of responsiveness to needs, the degree of transparency and accountability, as well as the nature of authority exercised by government over society. In this regard, the Mo Ibraham Foundation developed 84 indicators (such as economic prosperity, safety, human rights, and development) to measure the goodness of countries on the African continent. The UNDP, through its Global Program on Capacity Development for Democratic Governance Assessments and Measurements, furthermore in 2005 published different governance indicator frameworks within the Global Barometer, including the World Values Survey, the World Governance Assessment, the Public Integrity Index, and the Afrobarometer. Through these frameworks the UNDP seeks to assist developing countries to produce disaggregated and nonranking governance indicators to enable the monitoring and measurement of governments’ performance.

Globally, various mechanisms and initiatives are in place to measure the successes and failures of governance. These mechanisms and initiatives include

• ■ World Bank governance surveys: Country-level governance assessment tools that use information gathered from a country’s own citizens, business, and public sector workers to diagnose govern...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• 1 Governance Apparatus in South Africa: From Policy Design to Service Delivery
• 2 Public Administration in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• 3 Public Administration and Corruption in Uganda
• 4 Public Sector Reforms in Nigeria: 1999–2009
• 5 Combating Poverty in South Africa: Understanding the Informal Sector in the Context of Scarce Opportunities
• 6 Media as a Catalyst for Good Governance in South Africa: An Expanded Vision of Public Administration
• 7 Implementing Good Governance Reform in Ghana: Issues and Experiences with Local Governance
• 8 Overview of the African Peer Review Mechanism in Selected African Countries
• 9 Lessons for Africa in Economic Policy Reform: The Mauritius Best Practice Case
• 10 A Comparative Analysis of Local Government in Ghana and South Africa
• 11 Integrating Traditional Leadership Structures with Contemporary Public Administration Machinery for Innovative Governance and Improved Service Delivery
• Index