One senses that much more effort is made by South Africa’s soccer teams to appoint their coaches than government puts in to appoint key directors-general. Former President Kgalema Motlanthe is correct to call for urgent reform.
Building a capable State requires appointing capable public servants – but the opposite has been true for us during our period of State capture. We had the worst of times and we must now insist on having the best of times. This takes place when independent experts are brought in to interview and recommend.
That is the only way South Africa is going to turn itself into a capable State and it should begin by deploying best practice when replacing the outgoing director-general of the National Treasury, who has announced that he will be quitting in June.