BY NDZIPO THEMBANI KALIPA:
The appearance of Professor Somadoda Fikeni before the Mandlanga Commission (Chairperson of the Public Service Commission) raises fundamental questions about governance, ethics, accountability and the quality of public administration across all three spheres of government.
One of the most important points emerging from his contribution is that the criminal justice system cannot be examined in isolation. It is interconnected with the broader public-administration system. Failures that begin in recruitment, appointments, management, financial controls or political-administrative relations can ultimately manifest themselves as failures within the criminal justice system.
A poor recruitment decision can become a command-and-accountability failure. An inappropriate appointment can create an integrity risk. Weak performance management can allow persistent incompetence to continue. Political interference can undermine professional judgment, while fragmented information systems can conceal risks. Where consequence management is weak, misconduct can gradually become normalised.
These are not merely administrative problems. They affect citizens’ confidence in government and the state’s ability to deliver services fairly, efficiently and ethically.
Three themes deserve particular attention:
First: the systemic assessment of the criminal justice system.
This must begin with personnel practices and extend to professional conduct, performance management, ethics, integrity, financial disclosures, governance, compliance, coordination and consequence management.
There is an important distinction between a compliance-based culture and a values- and outcomes-based culture. Government institutions may appear to comply with procedures on paper while still producing poor outcomes in practice.
Compliance should never become a box-ticking exercise. The real question should be whether public institutions are achieving their constitutional and administrative responsibilities and serving communities with integrity.
Second: the political-administrative interface.
Democratic political authority has a legitimate role in government. At the same time, professional public administration requires officials to exercise their responsibilities independently, ethically and within the law.
The challenge is to preserve the proper relationship between elected political leadership and professional administration. When that boundary becomes blurred, professional judgment can be weakened and accountability chains can become confused.
Third: oversight, quorum and accountability.
Oversight structures and portfolio committees have an important role to play in ensuring that reports, recommendations and findings do not simply disappear into the administrative system.
When an oversight body identifies a problem or makes a recommendation supported by evidence, there must be a clear accountability chain determining who must respond, what action must follow and how implementation is monitored.
This is particularly important in our municipalities and metropolitan governments.
Across Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities, the broader lesson is that institutions need to move beyond the illusion of compliance and strengthen cultures based on ethical values, measurable outcomes and professional accountability.
Procurement is one area where these weaknesses can become particularly damaging. When procurement systems are compromised, public money intended for services and development can be diverted through collusion, conflicts of interest or other forms of misconduct. The consequences are ultimately carried by ordinary residents who depend on government for functioning infrastructure and basic services.
This is why financial discipline, disclosure requirements, supply-chain management, audit findings and consequence management cannot be treated as technical administrative matters. They are central to public trust.
The question we should therefore be asking is not simply: “Did the institution follow the procedure?”
We should also ask:
Did it act ethically?
Did it protect public resources?
Did it deliver the intended outcome?
Was anyone held accountable when the system failed?
And most importantly:
Did the citizens receive the service they were entitled to receive?
The Mandlanga Commission discussions should therefore be understood as part of a much bigger conversation about the health of public administration in South Africa.
Good governance is not created by policies sitting in files. Ethical government requires capable professionals, credible oversight, transparent financial practices, effective consequence management and institutions that are able to withstand improper interference.
Ultimately, public administration exists to serve the people.
Where systems repeatedly tolerate poor appointments, weak performance, non-compliance, compromised procurement and inadequate accountability, the cost is not abstract. It is paid by communities through poor services, wasted resources and declining trust in public institutions.
The time has come to move beyond performing compliance and towards a public administration genuinely grounded in professionalism, integrity, accountability, fairness and outcomes.
That is the standard citizens should expect from every sphere of government.
Kalipa is a former trade unionist, former Gauteng SACP Treasurer, former Gauteng Legislature SCOPA Chairperson, and ex-MMC for Infrastructure at City of Ekurhuleni – @NewsSA_Online
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