We have failed to maintain the independence of key institutions, in part because meritocracy has not prevailed, and in part because political deployment has trounced administrative independence in state institutions and the public service.
There will be no inclusive growth without urgently addressing state performance. Countries that have successfully restructured their economies, and transitioned out of low-growth, high-inequality traps have had high-performance states, built on professional bureaucracies and meritocracy. Policies and strategies that get approved at the level of the executive get implemented. The South African state is notorious for its coordination and coherence failures and weak policy execution. In our context, causes of state dysfunction include corruption, the politics of appointments (deployment), technical skills deficiencies, and the absence of consequence management. And we cannot escape the fact that many of the problems have their roots in intra-party dynamics. Any attempt to build a high-performance state must commence with dismantling the abusive patronage interests that have captured and repurposed the state for corrupt gain. Key here will be a revamped security cluster that impartially upholds the rule of law as prescribed in the Constitution.
