The descent into darkness: chronicles of a South African electricity consumer
It’s a Sunday evening and now 30 hours into a power outage. I would have been happy with load shedding. At least, those power cuts last for two hours and there is a defined start and end to it. But in my case, the problem is bigger. Along with millions of South Africans, I have learnt to accept that load shedding and power outages will become a feature of my life over the next few years. Barring the inconvenience, spoilt food and a rather unproductive weekend, I am not overly annoyed by this power outage. After all, it’s been a while since I last drafted a note by candlelight.
On call: bolstering the supply of doctors
South Africa, like many developing countries, faces severe shortages in doctors. Recently, a group of South African doctors put forward a creative solution to this problem – the establishment of a private medical school to increase the number of medical graduates. This idea was rejected outright by government.
At your service – or not?
The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation recently released the findings of the Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT). The MPAT results yield interesting insights into the way government works. In particular, the scores around governance and accountability mechanisms are low.
Making a difference: better quality health services in South Africa
Long waiting times, dirty health care facilities and reports of hospital acquired infections are challenges faced by millions of South Africans using public healthcare services on a daily basis. Collectively, these issues reflect the generally poor quality of health services provided by the public sector. While failings in the public sector are widely reported on in the press, the quality failures of the private sector are more nuanced and often overlooked.
Keeping the public wage bill in check
In the 2012 budget speech, the Minister of Finance raised concerns about the sustainability of the public sector wage bill. Spending on compensation of employees in the public sector has grown from R32 billion in 2001/02 to R98.6 billion in 2011/12, effectively tripling over a ten year period and greatly outpacing increases in inflation.
Bailouts of state owned enterprises and their impact on public finances
SAA has recently requested a capital injection of R 6 billion from the fiscus. Requests from SAA for recapitalisation (or bailouts) must by this point create a feeling of déjavu for most South Africans. In 2009/10, national government allocated R1.6 billion to SAA, and in 2007/08, R744 million was injected into SAA to allow the entity to restructure its operations and improve its debt to equity ratio.
Gratuities for municipal councillors: is this justifiable expenditure?
The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement contains a wealth of information on government expenditure. We should all give thanks to the Minister of Finance and his team at the National Treasury for compiling such a comprehensive and transparent document. In the absence of the MTBPS, little known facts might not emerge in the public domain.
Ward committees as a mechanism for meaningful community participation
It has been just over a month since the local government elections. Results are out and coalition agreements have been negotiated between political parties. In all of this commotion, we have yet to hear about how our newly elected representatives will better serve their communities. Will they improve on the performance of the class of 2006, which saw increasing community dissatisfaction and violent service delivery protests?