Economic growth and prosperity for South Africa depend significantly on getting its public administration right. This is the view from the Institute of Race Relations, a think tank based in Johannesburg, whose latest report, In Service of the Public: Reforming South Africa’s Public Administration, was launched yesterday.

The report details the systems failure that characterises many of the country’s public institutions: a lack of professionalism, an underskilled workforce, corruption, and ubiquitous politicisation. These arose from choices made by successive governments since the 1990s.

A key issue is that the legislation regulating South Africa’s public service – the Public Service Act of 1994, one of the earliest pieces of legislation to follow the transition to democracy – gave great influence to government ministers and members of provincial executive councils over staff in their departments. Also in this period, starting in around 1997, the African National Congress (ANC) embarked on its programme of “cadre deployment” to place party loyalists in theoretically non-partisan institutions.

Terence Corrigan, the report’s author, says that this produced a “fatal contradiction”: the ANC envisaged the state playing a significant developmental role, but its design and the party’s political choices had deprived it of the ability to do so.

“It is trite to say that governments don’t create business and employment, but they have an enormous influence on the economic environment,” says Corrigan. “In South Africa, administrative dysfunction has made the state a hindrance to economic growth.”

The quality of public administration, he says, is in many respects below what governance experts have termed “good enough governance” – in other words, able to service the basics of economic activity. The state itself is now increasingly a hindrance to rather than an enabler of economic activity.

The paper acknowledges a growing recognition of the problems in official circles. A recent amendment to the Public Service Act, for example, would move staff matters from the jurisdiction of politicians to directors general.

Corrigan warns that while this is a start, it is not a full solution: “A key risk is that there has been much ideological investment in exerting political control over the public service. It has also become a system of patronage and outright corruption. Expect significant resistance.”

There have also been reports recently that politically aligned public servants have been attempting to sabotage non-ANC ministers, Corrigan says.

Corrigan adds that the Government of National Unity has committed to creating a professional, merit-based public service. If this is to be done, it would require a change in mindset.

“The reality is that too much emphasis has been put on secondary matters. Political control is foremost, with demographic representivity following close behind. This must change. A public service that can promote our economic fortunes is one that is a highly skilled and highly motivated meritocracy. We need to choose that,” Corrigan concludes.