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Can we (re)build a capable state?

Published in the Sunday Times on 08 October 2023

In his editorial of 01 October 2023, Sunday Times editor Sthembiso Msomi submits that it feels like the government has given up on recovery. He 'laments' that since 2007 "building a capable state has been a popular phrase...yet on close examination, the state capacity to do anything has been eroding ever since (and)...this is not how you (re) build a capable state".  In his rendition, Msomi interrogates the resolve to build a capable state. As a rejoinder, this submission asks if we can (re)build a capable state.

Capability is defined in the dictionary as the (power) ability to do something or the extent of a person or institution's ability. It is, therefore, a domain of 'how to' more than 'what is'. To be capable means being able to execute and/or implement whatever is decided or legislated. It is a human-dependent activity and is thus reliant on the execution discipline and managerial discretionary capacity with which compliance-related obligations are negotiated and met. Mzukisi Qobo aptly defines a capable state “as a system of government which functions with relative autonomy from narrow interests and its parts work in a coordinated fashion to achieve clearly defined goals. It conducts its work efficiently and is effective in delivering services”.

The South African government has an operational definition of a capable state as one which 'has the required human capabilities, institutional capacity, service processes and technological platforms to deliver on the NDP through a social contract with the people'. In the vortex of government definitions, a "capable state requires (effectively coordinated) state institutions with skilled (knowledgeable and fit-for-purpose attributes) public servants committed to the public good and (capable of) delivering consistently high-quality services while prioritising the people in the achievement of the nation’s developmental objectives". In a myriad of capable (developmental) state definitions by state departments, there is a concretising consensus that it is about human capability and ethicalsness, coordination of statewide planning and efforts, the public as a single-unit beneficiary, and execution-driven state performance.

State capability is thus human and institutional. The Constitution settles this duality of where state capability is located by providing that an organ of the state is any state department, administration, institution, or any other functionary in all spheres of government which exercises power or performs a public function in terms of the Constitution or legislation. In terms of this provision, all public servants are as much an organ of the state as the institutions with the institutional roles of being such. It is the organ of stateness into which humans are commissioned as the public service that makes their capability as individuals a subject of national interest.

To get to a capable state will, therefore, require a society that produces a public service committed to the 'how to' business of government business. This means the most significant focus of any capacity-building interventions should be targeted at the bottom of the pyramid of state personnel. A central philosophy or thesis of why South Africa exists as a state should become the core of any such intervention. The Constitution is such a thesis and should be elevated to be the most crucial document any conceptualisation of civic education would be incomplete without. 

 

Indicators of a capable state should not be how deeply public servants know about public administration and service, including affairs theories, but how to perform the mundane tasks that are scaffolds to the entire practice of public service. It is the efficacy of public service records, the simplicity of such records to the public, the ease of access to the public service, and the basic etiquette of being in the service of citizens or the people who should be the low-hanging indicators that a public or civil service exists in a society. 

 

The hygienic maintenance of public amenities, basic cleanliness of the environment and streetscapes, friendliness of international reception entry points, the efficacy of law enforcement and crime prevention, and the humane but lawful execution of immigration laws should reign supreme in what indicates the state's capability.  Those in the employ or vocation of public service must demonstrate that they are 'commissioned by society' to be in the public service. If there is still any need to transform anything in the public service, it is how to get it into a mode of doing what the different good policies obligate it to do. 

 

At the bare minimum, this will require a national focus on what public service students learn, how they learn, and what they are unlearning to advance society. A serious reconsideration of the decision to close state-owned nursing, basic education teachers, and agricultural colleges should be the first step to intervene in society's deteriorating health, education, and food security challenges. If state-owned entities are ultimately sold, a condition of sale should be retaining the control of the artisan training facilities, which form a critical core of any national human resource development.

 

Building a capable state requires a commitment to build a strong state whose strength is appreciated by all citizens and, most importantly, corporate citizens. Hollowing the state as an objective of the dominant agencies of the state in favour of private sector involvement should be balanced against the true needs of a capable state. 

 

So, Mr. Msomi, as President Mbeki said, "instead of political currents, a different trend...shape(s) South Africa’s outcomes over the medium term. This is the receding power of the state – its loss of authority and credibility, its inability to translate plans into action, and the growing disconnect between the ruling (governing) elites and those they govern. This process will play out over the years but is already well underway”. To (re)build a capable state will require a commissioned and not deployed public service, focus on public service employees at lower levels for reorientation and capacity-building interventions, and a brutal review of the supply side learning dynamics in the public service. We need to reframe 'a capable state' in a 'nation-state' context.


This was published in the Sunday Times of  08 October 2023

 


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