With the Public Service Amendment Act now law, South Africa faces a pivotal change in governance, reducing political control over public service appointments and focusing on merit.
In any democracy, one of the most fundamental tensions lies in the degree of control elected officials exert over government departments -- specifically regarding their management, leadership and the awarding of contracts.
Even in the US, the world's oldest continuous constitutional republic, there are still arguments about whether President Donald Trump should have the right to remove officials in departments as diverse as the Justice Department, the Federal Reserve and the military.
To put it simply: granting election winners absolute authority over the state risks turning politics into a system of patronage, where power is maintained through the exchange of positions and public funds. Conversely, denying elected officials any control over the bureaucracy renders elections meaningless, effectively nullifying the democratic will of the people.
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It is obvious that the system we have had up until now, where politicians have been able to appoint officials and thus control the administration, has failed us.
During the apartheid era, the National Party insisted that its members make all the big decisions in government. As Hans Strydom and Ivor Wilkins' book, The Super Afrikaners, detailed, only members of the Broederbond were allowed in certain positions (according to legend at the time,...
