Beyond the social catastrophe and inevitable political fallout that will occur if Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini fails to ensure that grants are paid on time from April, the principle of public-private partnerships will also be undermined. This cannot be allowed. Public-private partnerships, done properly, make sense. Real partnerships between the state and private sector should be symbiotic. The state should benefit in that it can outsource complex functions to risk-taking private companies at a decent price and, in return, get a far better and more efficient service than it could deliver itself. Private companies should achieve a suitable return for the amount of risk and investment they are putting into a project.Turns out it's a lot more complicated. In a competitive economy, it should lead to transparency, good governance, keen pricing and high service levels. That's the theory, at least. South Africa remains a highly concentrated economy. It's a legacy of the sa...
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