POLITICS
CAROL PATON: Government on hold as ANC focuses on December elections
‘While the government fiddles, it and the people are getting poorer. It is a bad time for the executive to go on leave’
With the political scene totally dominated by the crisis in the ANC, the Gupta scandals and the race for a new ANC president, government and the work of government have dropped off the agenda.
The paralysis is palpable. It is widely understood that "nothing will happen before December", after which everything could change, including the president, the Cabinet, directors-general of departments and the roles and status of numerous senior public servants.
Government departments are already spilling over with duplicate layers of staff who have been left stranded when those who appointed them — directors-general or cabinet ministers — were removed through reshuffles and redeployments. Another layer of people will flow in to compete for the office furniture after December. Several cabinet ministers, premiers, MECs and their staff are also caught up in campaigning for positions in the ANC’s top six. Party political work will take up an increasing amount of time of government officials as we get closer to the ANC’s national elective conference in December. The ANC’s crisis has consumed the government’s work; everything is on hold. As always, though, hidden social processes are at work. While the government fiddles, both it and the people are getting poorer. It is not a good time for the executive to go on leave. The fiscal picture is deteriorating, with less tax revenue expected to be raised due to lower growth and the general economic ma...
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