GARETH VAN ONSELEN: Ramaphosa needs experts, not job-hopping political careerists

During former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure, two broad trends defined his attitude towards the Cabinet and the executive.

First, he changed them regularly: 12 different cabinets inclusive of 132 changes to the executive with the result that both had an average life span of about eight-and-a-half months. That kind of instability was replicated at director-general level (in excess of 180 different people held national director-general positions on his watch). The combination produced an environment of permanent organised chaos.

Even if Zuma had had a grand plan for the country, which is appears he did not, it simply could not have been implemented, such was the state of internal executive toil.

Second, through division, patronage and a brutal devotion to self-interest, populism and incompetence, Zuma slowly but systematically denuded the national ANC caucus of any talent or ability. Those who did not leave were marginalised and, during his end days, he thus oversaw a generally talentless collection of the mediocre and blindly loyal. And since, for the most part, loyalty proscribed talent, it was something of a vicious circle.

Both of these problems Cyril Ramaphosa has inherited, for his emergency elevation to president pre-empted the 2019 general election and he was thus stuck with the dregs and turmoil Zuma left him.

To his credit, he has done a fair bit to address that. He has brought back a small handful of experts — Nhlanhla Nene, for example — and seems in his first Cabinet to have tried to make as many long-term appointments as possible.

It pales in comparison to what he has managed to do outside the executive, where he is not constrained by the pool of available talent, as he is in Parliament.

To this end, his administration has done some excellent work in reconstituting key state-owned entities (SOE) boards. Former Land Bank CEO Phakamani Hadebe, for example, has done nothing but impress since his appointment. He is the real deal, in every sense of the word.

But the Cabinet and the executive remain constrained by what is available to Ramaphosa and, on that front, the pickings are slim indeed.

There is a curious by-product to all of this. Look at the Cabinet without any political context, and, remarkably, it appears brilliant indeed — populated by a raft of polymaths, each capable of excelling in any field, experts in a wide range of areas and, generally, ostensibly well-skilled for whatever task in put in front of them.

Take Jeff Radebe, for example. He has seen it all: Mandela, Mbeki, Motlanthe, Zuma and now Ramaphosa. And, it would seem, there is nothing he cannot do.

Now the minister of energy, before that he was the minister of public works, in the Presidency, public enterprises, justice and constitutional development, and transport. He has, in his time, even served as the acting minister of health. There are people who study any one of those fields for a lifetime and still do not master their various elements. But Radebe can do it all.

Lindiwe Sisulu, now the minister of international relations, is equally gifted. She has served as the deputy minister of home affairs, minister of intelligence, housing and defence. Another master of all trades.

Nomvula Mokonyane, now minister of communications, likewise has a far reaching set of expertise. She has been an MEC for agriculture, conservation and environment, safety and security and housing, a premier and a minister of water and sanitation. It’s the diversity of her skills that so impress. To master water, provincial government, agriculture and housing leaves little else for her conquer.

Susan Shabangu has done it all, too. Once the minister of women in the Presidency, she has been the deputy minister of minerals and energy, safety and security and served as the minister of mining. Now she is the minister of social development. She understands mines and welfare, gender and energy, and police to boot. A true all-rounder.

Nathi Mthethwa was previously an expert in police; now he is a master of arts and culture. Malusi Gigaba can proficiently guide home affairs, just as he could public enterprises and finance. Thulas Nxesi can preside over rural development, sport and public works. Nomaindia Mfeketo can be an executive mayor, or a deputy speaker, or an expert in international relations, or even an authority on human settlements, her current area of focus.

One could go on and on. There are a few exceptions to the rule of course — the likes of Angie Motshekga, Aaron Motsoaledi and Rob Davies — who have generally fashioned their national political careers around one particular area but, for the most part, the Cabinet comprises Jacks and Jills of all trades, and masters of none.

The rarest of all things will be the following progression: an ANC politician who starts out at provincial level as the MEC of a particular portfolio, based on their experience and credentials; then who, on the back of a good performance and after having served their time, is elevated to national level, perhaps to serve on the relevant committee or as a deputy minister on the same portfolio they had come to master at provincial level; and finally who is then promoted to a position in the Cabinet as a true expert in that particular area.

The same is true of directors-general, who very rarely these days are career public servants, who have risen through the ranks after a lifetime of service, to reach the very pinnacle of their profession. And experience aside, they are chopped and changed across the public service with disturbing regularity.

That kind of progression is how it would work in almost any profession outside of politics. But in politics, very often it is politics itself that is the desired outcome, with high office and the accompanying indulgences, rather than to serve in a particular field, to become an expert in it, and to stick to it in order that one might grow and develop.

It is true that this kind of job-hopping is not particular to the ANC, it happens everywhere. But it is particularly acute in the ANC and because of the dearth of talent it currently suffers.

Strangely though, it is never questioned. There are mutterings when a particular grievous appointment is made but, as a general rule, the assumption among those who analyse politics is that longevity equals expertise. So Jeff Radebe, for example, is regarded as a reliable old hand, never mind the obvious fact that being a good minister of transport does not necessarily translate into expertise in justice.

It will be interesting to see, over time, how Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC approach this, or whether either care about it at all. Come 2019, Ramaphosa will again be constrained by the pool that is the national ANC caucus; it is unlikely to be loaded with talent

They are, in truth, not transferable skills. And nothing reveals that better than how few ANC politicians are able to thrive outside of politics. They will claim, of course, that they are dedicated to the cause. But really, the cause is all they have. They simply could not cut it in a competitive environment — even one related to their supposed and inevitably temporary area of expertise — because they really just front a hidden machine, they don’t actually drive it.

The ANC’s Cabinet is, in effect, a recycling station for generic and empty vessels. It does not value expertise, in so far as it seeks out skill, rewards it and assigns it appropriately, just as it does not inculcate that attitude in its ministers, by constantly reshuffling, hiring and firing them.

It is ironic, for it is generally rare in most healthy, modern democracies for one party to govern unconstrained by political change, as the ANC has, for 24 years. If anything, given the party’s historic electoral dominance, you would think this would translate into continuity and focused experience.

Instead it has produced a culture of high ranking politicians who believe they can do anything – because the one thing you certainly never hear, is an ANC politician who has a declined a position on grounds that they believe they are not up to the job. No, there is nothing an ANC politician cannot do.

This argument concerns itself primarily with the Cabinet but the problem far exceeds that. There are a hundred other occupations that those who have fallen out with the powers that be are willing to accept without a moment’s notice, whether it is serving on a board, heading up a parastatal, being an ambassador or running a province. The state is no more than an amorphous whole, its constituent parts indistinguishable in terms of their requirements.

It will be interesting to see, over time, how Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC approach this, or whether either care about it at all. Come 2019, Ramaphosa will again be constrained by the pool that is the national ANC caucus; it is unlikely to be loaded with talent.

Perhaps the party will bring in some. But the very least he can do is get people who are credible enough to justify control of a particular ministry, time enough to develop some long-term knowledge and expertise.

Ramaphosa’s attitude to SOEs and their boards would seem to suggest he values excellence, or that the situation has gotten so bad that he cannot but embrace merit and skill. Either way, it is to be welcomed.

The real test for service delivery, however, is the Cabinet and the directors-general that serve with it. He is responsible for both. And if it is expertise he is after, he is going to have to both create and reward it. In doing so, he will put a stop to this nonsense idea that anybody can do anything they put their mind to.

• Van Onselen is the head of politics and governance at the South African Institute of Race Relations.