LETTER: SA can still make it, especially if we open doors to competence
The quantum shift under Ramaphosa has been the effort, now bearing fruit, to repair the damage to institutions of state
Terence Corrigan is correct, the foundations of capture do lie in cadre deployment, which was recently endorsed by President Cyril Ramaphosa (“State capture is official policy”, August 26).
Former president Jacob Zuma did indeed allow the Guptas, inter alia, to capture state companies and government departments to steal from them. And yes, wholesale and gigantic looting has become the order of the day.
Notwithstanding the scale of the looting, the greater damage has been the toxic impact of cadre deployment on management. Cadres are selected on loyalty, not ability. This point has been made repeatedly in the media. And it is correct: we have only to note the coexistence of rapid economic growth and poverty alleviation in large economies that are certainly not known for their spotless honesty and probity.
Competence and theft can, and often do, coexist. However, where they coexist state appointments are made on merit, as there is a sufficient pool from which to draw. That is, education is effective and state employees, albeit loyal to the party, are highly competent. In SA this course is not possible as the available skilled pool and the pool of loyalists do not coincide.
However, we have suffered an even worse fate than incompetent looting. It is a misnomer to call what Zuma did state capture. It could be more accurately termed state rupture. That is, it is perfectly possible (though not advisable) to operate under the rule of law while accommodating graft. What happened in the Zuma years was far worse: an attack on the rule of law.
The National Prosecuting Authority, police, state security and SA Revenue Service were undermined and the fiscal and justice wells of the country poisoned. Why? This was not required to loot for the benefit of the Guptas and others. But Zuma saw this as necessary to protect himself and his friends from prosecution and taxation.
The quantum shift under Ramaphosa has been the effort, now bearing fruit, to repair the damage to institutions of state. With the rule of law intact SA can still make it, especially if we open doors to competence.
Willem Cronje, Cape Town
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