Interrogating Governance Challenges and Cadre Deployment in South Africa

Abstract

The former Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Zweli Mkhize, painted a bleak picture about the state of local government. The minister stated that 87 municipalities – about a third of South Africa’s total of 257 – remain dysfunctional or distressed. Underpinning this dysfunctionality was mismanagement due to political instability or interference, corruption and incompetence. This then results in poor service delivery, thus prolonging the periods of underdevelopment and poor access to basic services. This paper argues that cadre deployment has hindered the effective service delivery in local municipalities, thus the domino effect has been riots, protests and wasteful expenditure at the local government level. This results in participatory exclusion when it comes to collective development.  By strictly analysing relevant literature related to corruption, and cadre deployment within the local government domain in South Africa, it became evident that the quest for socio-economic development in rural areas is deeply dependent on local governance having competent and skilled personnel who would prioritise service delivery rather than political loyalty at the expense of development. Nonetheless, the main question going forward is to what extent will loyalty ahead of competence be at the core of municipal governance and what implications will this have for future developmental prospects, good governance and service delivery?