Infrastructure Is A Mess

We are almost at the end of the year and this might be an opportune moment for self-reflection at national levels. So much has happened in the past 12 months, but there is one particular issue that bothers me: managing our resources and public assest as a nation. Lets us start with the most immediate one - the shortage of electrical supply in the country and the resultant blackouts we have see. To say the Eskom crisis has hurt our national pride - let alone the country's productivity - is an understatement.

There was a time when the security of electrical supply in South Africa made us distinct from other African countries. Now we have shown up as just one of "those African states" where the erratic functioning of public utilities is the norm. The question has to be asked: What went wrong at Eskom? This is one public asset that used to be the family's crown jewel.

The government, as the shareholder and the management of Eskom, must shoulder the responsibility for what is happening at the utility. Years of under-investment, lack of foresight and planning and poor management are coming back to haunt not only Eskom, but the whole country. One need not emphasise the inconveniences and economic losses brought about by load shedding. The Eskom issues raises the general question of how our assets and resources are managed in this country.

Do we deploy the best brains to the run the country's public assets? We shall return to this question. To be fair the government and Eskom's management, the non-payment for electricity by municipalities, business and residents for electricity has contributed to the situation the utility finds itself in. Municipalities reportedly owe Eskom more than R10 billion and Soweto alone is said to owe Eskom more than R3bn.

Often not talked about when these figures are bandied about, is what business also owed Eskom - a figure said to be above R1bn. This is simply not sustainable. Unless the Eskom situation is urgently addressed and we all take responsibility for it and do what has to be done to fix the utility, we may indeed be heading for dark days, both literally and figuratively.

But Eskom is not the onlu entity that shows something wrong with how we manage our resources and publice assets. The drama that's been playing out at both SAA and the SABC does not inspire confidence. At SAA we have heard about the chief executive officer being greeted by locked doors when he reported for duty. Reports said this was the culmination of tension between him and the board chairperson.

At the SABC we have seen the lowest level of ethics and governance. How does the chairperson of the board insist on keeping her position after it has become apparent that she does not have the academic qualifications she claimed she had? Indeed, what gives her the audacity to even want to defy parliament - which has recommended she must step down?

Given the leadership challenges we are witnessing at SAA and the SABC, we must ask if the people we have entrusted with the oversight and strategic direction of these public assets are the best this country can fine. The kind of appointments being made to these state entities may be indicative of how probity and respect for public assets have dwindled in our country.

It is a worrying trend and citizens are taking note of it and they will reciprocate the attitude. Why should citizens show commitment to public entities by, for example, paying for the services provided by these when they do not see a corresponding attitude from the shareholder? Citizens are already demonstrating to the government that they can withhold their taxes if they are not happy with something. A few weeks ago there was a report of how e-toll collections for example, are rapidly declining. I am not one to encourage lawlessness, but the defiance should send a signal to the government.

People want to see accountability, transparency and a sense that government is listening to them if they are going to co-operate. For as along as they see a somewhat lackadaisical and dismissive attitude in the manner appointments are made to public entities and in how publice resources are managed, the willingness to contribute through tax towards our collective may be in jeopardy.

The warning I am sounding is that every government needs credibility and public trust for it to raise the funds it needs for its policies. Once that credibility and public trust are gone, a government can collapse. Without sounding melodramatic, there is a need for those in authority to demonstrate even more probity and respect for our collective resources as a nation. May we see a return to the basic standards of public administration? The opposite is just too ghastly to contemplate.

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