tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/basic-services-16939/articlesBasic services – The Conversation2020-04-20T14:07:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1362632020-04-20T14:07:40Z2020-04-20T14:07:40ZThe five criteria low income countries must have in place for lockdowns to work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328391/original/file-20200416-192749-1w79ebs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Mozambique's urban settlements a lockdown might be feasible for a short period of time.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the COVID-19 virus has spread across the globe, developing countries are starting to enact many of the same policies used in China, Europe and North America to contain the virus. But are these policies appropriate in low income contexts? To help think about this we propose a simple index of lockdown readiness which identifies the share of households that could feasibly shelter at home for a prolonged period of time.</p>
<p>Using Mozambique as a case study, our <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/mozambique-prepared-lockdown-during-covid-19-pandemic">lockdown readiness index</a> suggests a need for more inventive adaptation of public health policies, not blind adoption from elsewhere.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-on-lockdown-coronavirus-italy-2020-3#russia-will-have-a-paid-stay-at-home-holiday-next-week-and-restaurants-bars-and-parks-in-moscow-are-closed-1">Many countries</a> have introduced lockdown measures, including home isolation, as a response to the global pandemic. Such policies were originally adopted by China and, over the past months, have been replicated by governments in the global North. </p>
<p>The aim of home isolation is to maintain a maximum of social distancing to reduce contacts with non-family members to an absolute minimum. But this assumes families actually can stay isolated with relative ease. In the global North, for example, an underlying assumption is that many people can work remotely via the internet and phone.</p>
<p>But what are the conditions that make it feasible to shelter at home? </p>
<p>Applying the index to Mozambique our main takeaway is that a strict or full lockdown would be very difficult for a large share of households in Mozambique, including those in urban areas. It is not only that household conditions are often unsuited to a lockdown. Many people simply could not afford to stay at home. </p>
<p>Without a broad-based safety net in place, which could temporarily substitute for lost income opportunities or put enough food on the table, a strict lockdown could quickly degenerate into social unrest.</p>
<h2>Assumptions of lockdown</h2>
<p>To make things simple, we consider the following five minimum criteria for a lockdown (often available in household surveys or census data): </p>
<ul>
<li><p>access to safe drinking water in the home;</p></li>
<li><p>adequate sanitation in the home; </p></li>
<li><p>a source of reliable energy; </p></li>
<li><p>access to information or communications technology; and </p></li>
<li><p>having a permanent source of income or savings. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>If the first three criteria are not met, then almost all household members will need to make multiple daily trips outside the home to places where other people congregate. These include communal taps or ablution facilities. </p>
<p>But even if these basic household conditions are in place, this does not put food on the table. Families living from hand to mouth would still struggle to stay in lockdown. And as noted in <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/covid-19-extending-lockdown-could-exhaust-social-tolerance-fuel-civil-unrest-crime-46370299">other contexts</a>, disobedience or social unrest can quickly follow if a lockdown drives people into despair.</p>
<p>As the decision to put an entire country or region in lockdown carries not only large economic costs but also social risks, policy makers need to consider whether such a policy is feasible. One way of doing so is through a lockdown readiness index. Using the above criteria, we constructed one for Mozambique. </p>
<h2>Readiness reflects inequality</h2>
<p>Based on the 10% sample of Mozambique’s 2017 housing and population census we consider the following five variables. Three are the same as in the first list – access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and electricity in the household. The other two we adapted to: having a phone in the household; and someone in the household having regular (formal) employment.</p>
<p>We define a household as “fully ready” if all five conditions are met and as “partially ready” if the first three of the five conditions are met – that is, they have the basic services to remain at home. The results are presented in the table below.</p>
<p>Table 1: Access to resources for lockdown readiness</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327626/original/file-20200414-117567-tzs9jp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to our index, it would only be immediately feasible to lock down around 6% of all Mozambican households, corresponding to 16% of Mozambique’s urban households and just 1% of rural ones. </p>
<p>Overall, 13% of households would be partially ready, meaning they have access to basic services but probably not sufficient income or savings. In urban settlements, only a third of households (33%) are ready in terms of basic services. So, for them, a lockdown might be feasible for a short period of time but some additional social safety provisions would need to be enacted, such as cash or food transfers.</p>
<p>Looking across different regions of the country, the degree of readiness reflects levels of inequality found also in <a href="https://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/mapping-deprivation-mozambique">national poverty assessments</a>. In the northern regions less than half the households show even partial readiness for a lockdown, while the south is the least deprived and thus most “ready” region. Yet, even in the capital city, Maputo, located in the south, less than 40% of the households are fully ready for a lockdown.</p>
<h2>What are the alternatives</h2>
<p>Rather than blindly replicating policies from higher income contexts, we recommend practical alternatives to a complete or general household lockdown. </p>
<p>While this must be designed locally, ideally with community engagement, part of such a package must involve extensive testing and tracking to identify virus hotspots, as in <a href="https://theaseanpost.com/article/vietnams-exemplary-response-covid-19">Vietnam</a>, as well as extensive prevention measures. And even if a lighter form of lockdown must be enforced, large-scale social protection programmes (such as cash transfers) and basic service expansion (such as mobile drinking water stations) would be required to avoid an even greater catastrophe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When restricting the movement of their citizens to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, low income countries should tailor measures to local socio-economic circumstances.Sam Jones, Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityEva-Maria Egger, Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityRicardo Santos, Research Fellow, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), United Nations UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1350292020-03-31T02:14:32Z2020-03-31T02:14:32ZWhat actually are ‘essential services’ and who decides?<p>The Morrison government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/scott-morrison-alll-restrictions/12087112">keeps using the word</a> “essential” to describe <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/who-is-deemed-an-essential-worker-under-australia-s-covid-19-rules">employees</a>, <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/limits-on-public-gatherings-for-coronavirus-covid-19">public gatherings</a>, <a href="https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/city-file/article/heres-list-what-are-considered-essential-and-non-essential-businesses-according-government">services and businesses</a> that are still allowed and not restricted as it tries to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.</p>
<p>But what is essential, and who gets to decide? </p>
<p>By its very <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essential">definition</a>, essential means “something necessary, indispensable, or unavoidable”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-130-billion-jobkeeper-payment-what-the-experts-think-135043">Australia's $130 billion JobKeeper payment: what the experts think</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>When it comes to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no recent precedents for governments. There is no pre-determined list in place on what is an essential service. Instead, “essential” appears a moving beast that is constantly evolving and that can be confusing.</p>
<h2>Confused messages</h2>
<p>On March 22 the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/statement-from-the-premier-32/">called</a> for “a shutdown of all non-essential activity” within 48 hours. Supermarkets, banks and pharmacies were some of the things he said were essential but he did not provide an exhaustive list of what was considered an essential service.</p>
<p>Naturally confusion reigned. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-27/coronavirus-businesses-that-dont-want-to-open/12094470">For example</a>, in the rural Victorian town of Ballan, some stores closed while others remained open.</p>
<p>We’ve now seen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-retail-shutdowns-2020-3">a number of retailers</a> decide to voluntarily shutter stores for the safety of their workers and the public, considering their businesses “non-essential”.</p>
<p>On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said a meeting of the national cabinet had agreed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/public-gatherings-restricted-to-two-people-and-all-foreign-investment-proposals-scrutinised-in-new-coronavirus-measures-135000">a raft of new restrictions</a>, such as <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-australian-parliament-house-act-13">limiting</a> “shopping for what you need, food and other essential supplies”.</p>
<p>But he also described his wife’s recent purchase of a number of jigsaw puzzles for the family as “absolutely essential”. While toy and hobby retailers may find comfort in this statement, in reality such businesses may not be considered “essential”.</p>
<h2>Guns and pastries, essential?</h2>
<p>There are differences too overseas in what people consider essential as part of any COVID-19 restrictions.</p>
<p>In the United States, <a href="https://www.kunc.org/post/dhs-advises-states-gun-industry-should-be-considered-essential">it’s recommended</a> employees of gun stores and gun manufacturers should be seen as “essential” workers, according to a <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce">memo</a> from the Department of Homeland Security.</p>
<p>While in Europe, “necessities” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/necessities-in-europe-belgian-fries-french-baguettes-and-dutch-cannabis-11585160745">are said</a> to include Belgian Fries, French Baguettes and Dutch Cannabis. In France, it’s also shops specialising in pastries, wine and cheese <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/what-s-essential-france-has-pastry-wine-while-us-has-golf-guns-and-ganja-20200329-p54f08.html">reportedly declared</a> essential businesses.</p>
<p>In Ireland, <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0328/1127041-list-essential-jobs/">reports say</a> the government there has issued a detailed list of what it considers “essential workers”. As for <a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0328/1126956-essential-retailers-ireland/">essential retailers</a>, they include pharmacies, fuel stations and pet stores, but not opticians, motor repair and bicycle repair outlets.</p>
<h2>The essential essentials</h2>
<p>Here in Australia there is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/scott-morrison-alll-restrictions/12087112">broad agreement</a> supermarkets, service stations, allied health (pharmacy, chiropractic, physiotherapy, psychology, dental) and banks are essential business and services.</p>
<p>Similarly freight, logistics and home delivery are also considered essential. Australia Post <a href="https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/important-updates/coronavirus">says</a> posties and delivery drivers continue but <a href="https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/important-updates/coronavirus/coronavirus-domestic-updates#location">some posts offices are temporarily closed</a>.</p>
<p>Some bottle shops can stay open but many are now <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/australian-liquor-stores-enforcing-new-voluntary-purchasing-limits/news-story/59e7a21087c95cb98e3a040affee89d9">imposing restrictions</a> on how much people can buy.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1244758054266003456"}"></div></p>
<p>The government has moved to progressively add more business, services and activities to its “non-essential services” <a href="https://business.gov.au/risk-management/emergency-management/coronavirus-information-and-support-for-business/restrictions-on-non-essential-services">list</a>.</p>
<p>This includes cafés, food courts, pubs, licensed clubs (sports clubs), bars, beauty and personal care services, entertainment venues, leisure and recreation (gyms, theme parks), galleries, museums and libraries.</p>
<p>Some of these entities do have exceptions. A café can remain open for take-away only. A hairdresser or barber can trade if they comply with the one person per four square-metre rule.</p>
<p>Others remain convoluted, such as <a href="https://business.gov.au/risk-management/emergency-management/coronavirus-information-and-support-for-business/restrictions-on-non-essential-services">outdoor and indoor markets</a> (farmers markets), which are a decision for each state and territory.</p>
<h2>In and out of work</h2>
<p>In reality, no worker should ever be considered, or consider themselves, as “non-essential”.</p>
<p>But due to how the restrictions have been broadly applied, some workers in one industry may now find themselves out of a job, while others in that same industry remain fully employed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-500-a-fortnight-jobkeeper-wage-subsidy-in-massive-130-billion-program-135049">$1,500 a fortnight JobKeeper wage subsidy in massive $130 billion program</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Take for example chefs. Due to bans on restaurants and licensed clubs, chefs there are being stood down, but chefs inside hotels can continue to cook and provide room service meals.</p>
<p>A barista in a café can still be gainfully employed, as long as they only make take-away coffee, but a barista inside a licensed sports club, is unfortunately stood down.</p>
<h2>Further restrictions and essentials</h2>
<p>While we have seen many businesses reduce their operations and several retailers voluntarily close their doors, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/coronavirus-australia-big-name-shops-closing-their-doors-as-social-distancing-hits-retail-industry/news-story/be67da936b12997d19c78ac6d212309a">many are standing by</a> waiting for further announcements to potentially close all “non-essential” services.</p>
<p>What should the government consider before deciding what is and isn’t regarded as essential?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-time-of-coronavirus-donating-blood-is-more-essential-than-ever-134541">In the time of coronavirus, donating blood is more essential than ever</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some decisions are easy: we need health workers, police, fire fighters and other emergency services workers, and we need those who maintain services to the public such as food supply, clean water, sewerage and so on.</p>
<p>But we also need those services required to keep these people functioning. The military describe this as tooth to tail ratio: the number of people required to keep any soldier on the battlefield (estimated up to three for every soldier).</p>
<p>In the civilian context this includes those responsible for the supply of consumables, personal protection equipment, transport, power, fuel, computer systems, and someone to look after their families while they do the heavy lifting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Mortimer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s hard to keep up with what’s regarded as essential and non-essential services.Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228702019-09-19T13:25:00Z2019-09-19T13:25:00ZNamibia’s urban poor are stuck in limbo, without land or services<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290665/original/file-20190903-175663-1fhrlvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An informal settlement in Windhoek, Namibia</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pemba Mpimaji/Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236240842_Enhancing_Access_to_Land_by_the_Urban_Poor_Exploring_Viable_Alternatives">Informal settlements</a> are increasingly emerging in cities in developing countries across the world, including Africa. </p>
<p>Today <a href="https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/urban-governance/key-policy-challenges/informal-settlements/">an estimated 25%</a> of the world’s urban population live in informal settlements. These settlements have <a href="http://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Habitat-III-Issue-Paper-22_Informal-Settlements.pdf">limited or no access to basic services</a> like water and sanitation; lack proper infrastructure like roads and formal housing structures. </p>
<p>Namibia’s capital city, Windhoek, is no exception when it comes to unplanned urbanisation. I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0376835X.2018.1475219">conducted a study</a> into informal settlements in the capital. The main aim was to establish the relationship that people had with the land, as well as their access to basic services.</p>
<p>I found that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03768350601165918">almost 85%</a> of the informal settlers in Windhoek do not own the land they occupy. I also found that most had limited access to public municipal services. These two issues are closely interlinked. Our study shows that formalised land tenure is a condition for households to access municipal services privately. </p>
<p>The people I interviewed said their need to own land was more pressing than their need to access services. This makes sense given that formal land tenure is a requirement for communities to access public municipal services. </p>
<p>We conclude from our findings that there is an urgent need to formalise land policy in Windhoek’s informal settlements. But that if the Namibian government wants to improve the living conditions of the urban poor, it needs to introduce policies that recognise the complex nature and relations of informal settlements.</p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>Windhoek’s informal settlements have grown exponentially over the past few decades. In 2004, informal settlers constituted about 29% of Windhoek’s population of over 250 000. By 2011, Windhoek’s <a href="https://cms.my.na/assets/documents/p19dmn58guram30ttun89rdrp1.pdf">population had increased</a> to 325 858. The proportion of informal settlements in general continued to increase. By 2018, an <a href="https://neweralive.na/posts/40-of-namibians-live-in-shacks">estimated 40%</a> of Namibia’s <a href="https://d3rp5jatom3eyn.cloudfront.net/cms/assets/documents/Labour_Force_Survey_final_-_2018.pdf">2.4 million population</a> were living in shacks. This increase has been driven by people migrating from the country’s rural areas to the city in search of better lives.</p>
<p>In colonial times, settlers across Africa <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236240842_Enhancing_Access_to_Land_by_the_Urban_Poor_Exploring_Viable_Alternatives">restricted the number of indigenous Africans</a> who were permitted in urban areas. Land was <a href="https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01265022/file/THESES%20(PHDs)%20The%20Evolution%20of%20the%20Land%20Use%20Structure%20of%20Dar%20es%20sallam%201890-1990%20A%20Study%20in%20the%20Effects%20of%20Land%20Policy%20(1).pdf">taken from the original occupants</a> and vested in an elite few. </p>
<p>Namibia’s colonial regimes (Germany in the early 1880s and South Africa in the mid-60s) followed similar policies, particularly in Windhoek. With independence in 1990, there was an influx of migrants from rural to urban areas. But successive post-colonial regimes have been unable to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03768350601165918">provide adequate infrastructure</a> for the new urban dwellers – and haven’t been able to address the legacy of colonial land policies. </p>
<h2>Unclear policy</h2>
<p>At present, services in Windhoek are provided by the city council. Namibia’s central government relies on the council for service provision. In turn, the council relies on community self-governing Water Point Committees to administer many aspects of service delivery in Windhoek’s informal settlements. This relationship is informal. It’s not legally binding and operates outside of a proper framework or policy.</p>
<p>The council, meanwhile, blames the central government for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03768350601165918">not creating a proper environment for quality service delivery</a> in the capital. The present fuzzy land policy is advantageous to council, reducing the incentive for reform. </p>
<p>It is not clear, whether the lack of a coordinated approach by the central government is due to its inability to perform its function, or lack of political will and policy. Part of its frustration relates to a long-standing absence of legislation. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the <a href="https://www.lac.org.na/laws/2018/6631.pdf">Urban and Regional Planning Act</a> of 2018 should enable the city council to accelerate the upgrading of informal settlements and to address the issue of land tenure to these communities. </p>
<p>The absence of legislation for almost 20 years left informal settlers in a legal limbo, without clear title to their land. During that time they were only provisionally tolerated by the government through the provision of communal services like water and sanitation. </p>
<p>But things don’t have to remain this way. The Namibian government could do a number of things differently to improve the conditions for its urban poor. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>The government must form strategic partnerships with private sector actors to provide services for informal urban settlers. But policies must be introduced that recognise the complex nature of informal settlements. These policies need to provide pathways for urban dwellers to own the land they occupy and drive the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda of “leaving no one behind”. </p>
<p>Access to basic services is part of the goals. At the rate Windhoek is going, it seems unlikely this goal will be met by the 2030 deadline. But some things could be done differently to change this and put Namibia’s urban poor on a more prosperous, secure and dignified path.</p>
<p>And, while I focused on Namibia, the lessons are applicable to other developing countries that face similar urban challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Selma T. Karuaihe receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF). In 2013/2014, I received research funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa to conduct a bilateral study on rural water access and management between South Africa and Nambia. </span></em></p>Urban dwellers who live in informal city settlements have limited access to basic services, and many of them don’t own the land they live on.Selma T. Karuaihe, Senior Lecturer: Environmental and Resource Economics, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/806752017-07-13T05:38:50Z2017-07-13T05:38:50ZPlatform co-ops offer urban communities a bigger say in their lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177979/original/file-20170713-19642-bq3c5j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Kolorob youth facilitator spreads the word in the Dhaka neighbourhood of Bauniabadh.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.kolorob.info/portfolio_page/bb17/">www.kolorob.info</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is one of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ecocity-summit-40496">series</a> of articles to coincide with the 2017 <a href="https://www.ecocity2017.com/">Ecocity World Summit</a> in Melbourne.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Digital platform companies like Facebook, Uber and Google regulate our likes, updates, schedules, locations, photos, jobs and trips. In the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/07/facebook-uber-amazon-platform-economy">world of the platform</a>”, the power and control of these proprietary systems commodify our habits, attitudes and movements. These platforms inundate our lives in many ways, delivering a daily deluge of data and applications.</p>
<p>Despite recent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/27/google-braces-for-record-breaking-1bn-fine-from-eu">financial penalties</a> and calls for <a href="http://ylpr.yale.edu/sites/default/files/YLPR/pasquale.final_.2.pdf">regulatory oversight</a>, the growth and reach of these platforms show few signs of slowing. Today, Facebook’s active user community of <a href="http://www.socialmediopolis.com/socialtrax-blog/4542-facebook-passes-2-billion-monthly-active-users-adds-tools-to-celebrate">more than 2 billion</a> is greater than that of any country. </p>
<p>In some cities, the statistic of “active Facebook users” seems to be a proxy for the urban population itself. Digital marketing company Hootsuite <a href="https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/04/11/current-global-state-internet/#.tnw_IqoqZDsf">recently reported</a> Bangkok registered 30 million such users, followed by Dhaka and Jakarta, with 22 million each.</p>
<p>While these counts include confounds – duplicate, dummy and visitor accounts – they register the daunting pervasiveness of Facebook in South and South-East Asian cities, as well as the scale of their digital populations.</p>
<p>This produces complex social effects. Patterns of inclusion and exclusion are both perpetuated and manipulated into new forms. Distinctions between urban infrastructures and new media platforms <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444816661553">are rapidly collapsing</a>.</p>
<h2>Creating alternative platforms</h2>
<p>The concerning power of platform companies has led some to seek alternative models, such as <a href="https://platform.coop/">platform co-operatives</a>. </p>
<p>Building on the successes of open source software, the co-operative model creates digital platforms in ways that directly benefit creators, members and users. If, for example, a platform co-operative sold advertising, any proceeds might be distributed equitably to its members, rather than to a much smaller group of company shareholders.</p>
<p>Such co-operatives are examples of new organisational forms that look to overcome inequities in the world’s megacities. We recently participated in an example, a Dhaka-based project called <a href="http://www.kolorob.info">Kolorob</a>, that has developed a small-scale platform for mapping services in informal settlements. </p>
<p>Kolorob has built a custom <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=demo.kolorob.kolorobdemoversion">Android application</a> and database of schools, legal centres, health clinics, government offices and commercial businesses in the northern district of Mirpur. <a href="https://bangladesh.savethechildren.net">Save the Children</a> in Bangladesh funds and operates the project.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-5onTZxziKI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Kolorob aims to transform the lives of poor urban dwellers by improving their access to local services.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The need for directories and maps of services is growing. Digital maps deliver real-time information through front-end, consumer-focused services in global cities. Google Maps, for example, offers reviews of businesses, traffic updates and even warnings on parking availability in <a href="http://www.droid-life.com/2017/01/26/google-maps-adds-parking-difficulty-indicator-25-cities/">25 US cities</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, informal settlements in many megacities lack basic information on essential services. These are expensive to map, and their communities represent limited markets for advertising and other services.</p>
<p>As spatial information tools to <a href="http://www.fig.net/resources/publications/figpub/pub48/figpub48.pdf">manage megacities</a> increase, citizen participation and collaborative decision-making can help meet the need for access to services while deciphering the noisy complexity of unplanned urban settlements.</p>
<p>The Kolorob project began by recruiting young people to map services into <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/51.500/-0.100">OpenStreetMap</a>, a freely accessible global database of locations. Using their local contacts, project staff collaborated with communities to co-ordinate the mapping of more than 2,000 local businesses and services. </p>
<p>To search and navigate the database, local developers built an Android app that has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.</p>
<h2>Exploring co-operatives’ potential</h2>
<p>We reported on the aims and progress of the project <a href="https://theconversation.com/signals-from-the-noise-of-urban-innovation-in-the-worlds-second-least-liveable-city-56925">in</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/design-in-the-hybrid-city-diy-meets-platform-urbanism-in-dhakas-informal-settlements-61661">2016</a>. We are now interested in how crowdfunding, volunteerism, hybrid business models, local partnerships and grant applications can sustain the project’s outcomes. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177980/original/file-20170713-19675-mkmhw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How can co-operative community platforms survive and compete against the global corporate giants?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.kolorob.info/portfolio_page/p8/">www.kolorob.info</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At stake are wider questions. Can examples of platform co-operativism – community-led, owned and operated digital infrastructure – overcome urban information gaps? And how, in doing so, might they sustain themselves to compete against corporate alternatives?</p>
<p>These stakes involve long-term networks and commitments, well beyond the scope of NGO funding cycles. With the rise of an “<a href="https://acfid.asn.au/sites/site.acfid/files/ACFID%20Innovation%20for%20Impact%20-%20Web%20Ready.pdf">innovation for impact</a>” agenda in the NGO sector, agility, cross-sectoral collaboration and “shared value” partnerships with the private sector become essential components of this new orientation.</p>
<p>As community co-operatives begin to establish themselves as stakeholders in the digital infrastructure of cities, traditional project evaluation needs to move from the language of “success or failure” to a more calibrated understanding of their short and long-term effects. </p>
<p>Kolorob has highlighted some of these: greater participant learning, emergent citizen science, and political literacy and representation.</p>
<p>There are risks in ceding complete control of our cities’ digital lives to market or state interests. These include not only the monopolisation of information, but a shift in our roles from active citizens to the relative passivity implied in the term “user”. </p>
<p>Despite close scrutiny of the social erosion associated with “<a href="http://financeandsociety.ed.ac.uk/ojs-images/financeandsociety/FS_EarlyView_LangleyLeyshon.pdf">platform capitalism</a>”, these platforms continue to proliferate. They already influence – in complex ways – city infrastructure developments and prospects for wider urban participation. </p>
<p>We need to build and sustain urban platforms that are no longer simply lock-in and proprietary. Instead, we should embrace open source software, participatory design and a more inclusive distribution of proceeds. </p>
<p>Even without fully realising their potential, platform co-operatives and allied models offer us new ways to think about who does – and who ought to – benefit from the labour and data we invest in city and digital infrastructure.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ecocity-summit-40496">here</a>. The <a href="https://www.ecocity2017.com/">Ecocity World Summit</a> is being hosted by the University of Melbourne, Western Sydney University, the Victorian government and the City of Melbourne in Melbourne from July 12-14.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Magee is affiliated with the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. The Institute received funding from Save the Children Bangladesh to undertake research in Dhaka in 2016. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Sweeting works for Save the Children Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Teresa Swist is affiliated with the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. The Institute received funding from Save the Children Bangladesh to undertake research in Dhaka in 2016.</span></em></p>A co-operative project that maps services in Dhaka shows how communities of citizens can be more than passive users of the digital platforms that increasingly shape our daily lives.Liam Magee, Senior Research Fellow, Digital Media, Western Sydney UniversityDavid Sweeting, Institute Associate, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityTeresa Swist, Engaged Research Fellow, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646172016-09-04T17:44:16Z2016-09-04T17:44:16ZThe revolt of South Africa’s metropoles: a revolution of rising expectations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136055/original/image-20160831-30804-7gonj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Johannesburg skyline: the challenge is to create a city that is liveable, safe and resource efficient.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The major metropolitan cities in South Africa <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africans-have-made-their-voices-heard-now-what-for-local-councils-63854">rose up in revolt</a> on August 3 2016. It was peaceful and democratic but a revolt nonetheless. The changes may not be as dramatic as experienced in some countries. But they are remarkable in the context of South Africa’s history. </p>
<p>The outcome was <a href="https://theconversation.com/sharp-tongued-south-african-voters-give-ruling-anc-a-stiff-rebuke-63606">a disaster for the African National Congress</a>. Yet the “revolution of rising expectations” in the metropoles is a global phenomenon. Nor is the concept new. Academics <a href="http://www.popularsocialscience.com/2013/04/17/james-c-davies-j-curve-theory-of-revolutions/">used it</a> in the 1960s to describe the rise of the American Civil Rights movement. This coincided with higher levels of income growth and upward mobility for black Americans. </p>
<p>Populations revolt when lives are improving but not fast enough to meet their rising expectations. The residents of South Africa’s large metropolitan cities are privileged in national terms but were among the least inclined to vote for the ANC. A sense of “relative deprivation” – in addition to undeniable conditions of “absolute deprivation” - may have influenced <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/lgedashboard2016/">the 20% to 25% of people in townships</a> such as Alexandra and Tembisa who voted for the Economic Freedom Front. </p>
<p>But many who were clearly part of the mainstream modern economy also voted for the Democratic Alliance. They included a significant minority of black Africans. These are people for whom the rhetoric of “service delivery” holds little meaning. They all have electricity, water, sewerage and refuse collection. But they are concerned with the quality and reliability of urban infrastructure. </p>
<p>This is a segment of the population prone to middle class anxiety. They are fearful of losing their middle class status. Areas of their lives about which they harbour the most fears include the quality of education for their children; safety and security in cities where crime rates are among the world’s worst; health benefits for old age; the state of the modern economy; personal freedoms; environmental futures; and the integrity of governance. </p>
<h2>Understanding the metropolitan context</h2>
<p>As urbanisation – and also the growth of large cities - continues relentlessly, the demographics are against parties that fail to engage an urban base. Fortunately, there is a growing corpus of scholarly and policy-related work which offers an understanding of the metropolitan context and guidance for action. </p>
<p>For the first half of 2016, there is a striking list of new releases on urban development in South Africa. They include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the government’s <a href="http://www.cogta.gov.za/?programmes=the-integrated-urban-development-framework-iudf">Integrated Urban Development Framework</a> </p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="http://www.cde.org.za/cities/">Centre for Development and Enterprise’s Cities</a> report launched as part of its “Growth Agenda” series; </p></li>
<li><p>the weighty South African State of the Cities Report released by the <a href="http://www.socr.co.za/">South African Cities Network</a> ; and, </p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="http://www.gcro.ac.za/research/project/detail/quality-of-life-survey-2015/">Gauteng Quality of Life Survey launched by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These documents collectively fill a number of gaps. They make a cogent argument for paying attention to cities. They offer a vision of liveable, safe, resource efficient cities in the future. They provide an impressive understanding of urban processes across South Africa’s large cities. And they include a package of strategies and actions for urban planning, transport, infrastructure, land development, active communities, urban governance and city finances.</p>
<p>To be sure, there are limitations to knowledge, and deficiencies in the actions proposed. Too little is known, for example, of the lived experiences of people across South Africa’s metropolitan cities. Too little is also known about the way in which these cities’ real economies actually operate. </p>
<p>Nevertheless there is, arguably, substantive guidance for agencies of government concerned with engaging the expanding complexities of the country’s metropolitan cities. The tragedy is that politics may interpose and this may not happen. The national leadership of the ANC, either consciously or unconsciously, may take revenge on the electorates that turned away from it. New parties in power locally may reject or ignore the positive programmes introduced by their ANC predecessors. Or unstable political coalitions may cause prolonged paralysis. </p>
<h2>The demands of urban elites</h2>
<p>The government is either not able to meet the anticipation of a rising quality of life, or is the source of huge anxiety for a group deeply concerned with slippage, over time, into economic distress. </p>
<p>From the temporal perspective of August 2016, the vanguard for change in South Africa is the educated urban elites concentrated mainly within its largest metropolitan cities. This includes <a href="http://www.uctunileverinstitute.co.za/research/4-million-rising/">the 46% of the black middle class which lives within Gauteng</a> </p>
<p>Elsewhere in the world we are seeing similar processes. In the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, for example, the previously little known Aam Admi Party <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/delhi-election-result-sirf-aap-delhi-picks-arvind-kejriwal-again-738364">swept to power</a> with 67 of the 70 seats. The Congress Party, which had ruled Delhi for a decade-and-a-half, was left with zero seats. The Aam Admi Party had skilfully managed to create a cross-class and multi-interest alliance by tapping into the tetchiness of a metropolitan electorate expecting the dividends of Delhi’s economic success.</p>
<p>Responding to the aspirations and expectations of a metropolitan electorate requires a high degree of sophistication. In the case of Johannesburg, the ANC-controlled local government had a level of adeptness and talent rare elsewhere. But it still struggled to convince its electorate. </p>
<h2>Vulgarity of the national leadership</h2>
<p>The local leadership could also do little about the blundering and vulgarity of the national leadership. This has repeatedly caused the metropolitan electorate to cringe with anxiety and embarrassment. The Gauteng provincial government under <a href="http://www.gautengonline.gov.za/Pages/Profile-of-Premier-David-Malemolla-Makhura.aspx">David Makhura</a> is impressively lucid and visionary. Yet it still fails to adequately grasp the nature and potentials of the metropolitan city. </p>
<p>An example is its proposal to build “new cities” beyond the metropolitan edge. What it should be doing is building on the social, economic and spatial energies of densifying urban areas where growing numbers of people live in closer proximity to economic opportunities, cultural activities and each other, in a diversifying cosmopolitan mix. </p>
<p>With the ANC no longer having a clear electoral majority in five of the six large cities, the temptation may be to focus on the interests of the reduced support base. There is clearly a need for public representatives who are able to articulate the interests and needs of people living in rural areas, towns and small cities. But parties that disconnect themselves from the energy, innovation, social diversity, intense pressures and the ability of metropolitan cities to make global connections will drift into a lethargic conservatism. </p>
<p>Government must mediate across a diversity of spatial interests, from deep rural areas to global business hubs. But the animation and effervescence is most likely to come from the engagements with the complexities of metropolitan cities. </p>
<p>Our hope is that rational minds, and a long term view, will prevail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Populations revolt when lives are improving but not fast enough to meet their rising expectations.Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/417712015-05-14T04:37:12Z2015-05-14T04:37:12ZSouth Africa needs a professional civil service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81583/original/image-20150513-2479-1w2ibmb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Union Buildings in Pretoria, home to South Africa’s government. Public confidence in civil servants has been severely eroded
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Mukoya/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Endless factional battles, suspensions, resignations, golden handshakes, graft, cronyism. These are symptoms not only of institutional dysfunction but also of a failing public <a href="https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhsf.org.za%2Fresource-centre%2Ffocus%2Fstate-and-nation%2F6.south-africa-failure-and-success-in-public-sevice.pdf%2Fdownload&ei=hB9TVZqaFYSU7Abr8IGwBA&usg=AFQjCNHgLNgufiXsYFuzrz0WsiaykiAfyQ&sig2=QweQ9e7MG1XxpfveP1TmMg&bvm=bv.93112503,d.ZGU">service </a>in South Africa today. </p>
<p>This state of affairs is a far cry from the post-1994 democratic transition which brought with it expectations of significant improvements in services and access to basic services. These expectations were best summed up in the ruling African National Congress’s promise of “a better life for all” <a href="http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=262">promise </a>. </p>
<h2>Pervasive failure to deliver basic services</h2>
<p>The reality has been very different. There have been improvements in access to basic services along a number of indicators – from <a href="http://energy-access.gnesd.org/cases/22-south-african-electrification-programme.html">electricity</a> to water and sanitation (Approximately 11% 1.4 million). But failure to deliver basic services across the country is unacceptably pervasive. </p>
<p>Confidence in the public service has been further eroded by skills deficiencies in the bureaucracy. This has led to excessive reliance on costly <a href="http://www.fin24.com/Economy/How-govt-splurged-R30bn-on-consultants-20150222">consultants</a>, as well as widespread reports of <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-12-02-fsdf/">corruption</a>.</p>
<p>Cooperative governance and traditional affairs minister Pravin Gordhan says one in three municipalities is <a href="http://www.fin24.com/Economy/One-in-three-municipalities-dysfunctional-Gordhan-20150303">dysfunctional</a>. He has an unenviable task of administering his bitter, yet necessary <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/2014/09/19/pravin-gordhan-pins-hope-on-back-to-basics-strategy">back-to-basics</a> remedy to cure the ills afflicting municipal governments. </p>
<p>The failure of local authorities to meet basic delivery standards has prompted a wave of angry <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/cops-want-r3-3bn-to-protect-the-state-1.1745698#.VVMcI_mqqko">protests</a>. </p>
<p>Communities have also resorted to taking local municipalities to court over service <a href="http://www.afesis.org.za/Local-Governance-Articles/service-delivery-failures-a-threat-to-local-government-credibility-by-malachia-mathoho">delivery failures</a>. In many cases the courts have ruled in favour of the disgruntled communities. Alarmingly some municipalities have failed to comply with court orders to improve public services. </p>
<p>Across all spheres of government there have been numerous cases of poor governance and corruption. Successive reports by the <a href="https://www.agsa.co.za/Portals/0/PFMA2012-13/PFMA%202013-14/PFMA_2013_14_National_media_release.pdf">Auditor-General</a> have highlighted billions of taxpayers’ money misspent through unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.</p>
<p>There have also been numerous reports of conflicts of interest involving public officials. And performance management systems implemented by the ANC government have generally not led to significant improvements in <a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOUTHAFRICA/Resources/Accountability_in_Public_Services_in_Africa.pdf">accountability</a>.</p>
<h2>Public servants or politicians?</h2>
<p>Political factors have played a disproportionate role in decisions on the promotion, transfer and performance assessments of government officials. The excessive politicisation of the public service has been driven by the ANC government’s strategy to install party members in administrative offices and to control top government appointments. </p>
<p>A worrying trend has been the high turnover of department heads in government. About <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-25-stability-has-become-a-stranger-to-dgs">R44-million a year</a> has been spent on director-generals who have not been doing the jobs they were employed to do. </p>
<p>Between 2009-2014 a total of 177 permanent and acting directors general ran government departments. Of this, 28 directors-general did not complete their <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-25-stability-has-become-a-stranger-to-dgs">full terms</a>.</p>
<p>The Public Service Commission, which monitors the public service, <a href="http://www.psc.gov.za/documents/2008/SOPS%20Report.pdf">points out</a> that leadership stability is indispensable to optimal performance. And that staff morale is negatively affected by a constant change of leadership. </p>
<p>There has been evidence of excessive <a href="http://www.dpsa.gov.za/dpsa2g/documents/opsc/The_Turn_over_Rate_Hod.pdf">mobility</a> within the public service. Officials are moved from junior to senior positions without adequate assessments. This suggests that skills are under-emphasised in the appointments and promotions.</p>
<p>Not only has extreme politicisation of the public service fuelled clientelism, cronyism and corruption, it has also eroded technical <a href="http://www.dpsa.gov.za/dpsa2g/documents/opsc/The_Turn_over_Rate_Hod.pdf">knowledge </a>, skills and accountability among public servants.</p>
<p>Nowhere has this been clearer than in the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as the power utility <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/04/22/eskom-s-tsotsi-bent-the-rules-to-favour-gupta-mines">Eskom</a>, <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/transport/2015/04/24/suspended-saa-ceo-monwabisi-kalawe-resigns">South African Airways</a>, <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/mbete-to-study-opinion-on-sabc-oustings-1.1843769#.VVMP-Pmqqko">South African Broadcasting Corporation</a> and the SA <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/sa-post-office-to-appoint-board-1.1853660#.VVMQz_mqqko">Post Office</a>. </p>
<p>State-owned enterprises play a significant role in the South African economy. They have been identified by the ANC government as pivotal to the pursuit of growing the economy and fostering <a href="http://www.poa.gov.za/news/Documents/NPC%20National%20Development%20Plan%20Vision%202030%20-lo-res.pdf">development</a>.</p>
<p>Yet they continue to be plagued by numerous problems that have undermined their ability to respond to the government’s <a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/electronicreport/downloads/volume_3/development_and_transformation/The_Place_of_SOEs_in_a_developmental_state.doc.">agenda</a>. </p>
<h2>There is a game plan, but no action</h2>
<p>South Africa is a long way from realising the vision of building a truly capable state. What this should look like is set out clearly in the <a href="http://www.poa.gov.za/news/Documents/NPC%20National%20Development%20Plan%20Vision%202030%20-lo-res.pdf">National Development Plan</a>, which has been adopted by the government.</p>
<p>The NDP argues that to address poverty and inequality, South Africa needs a state that is capable of playing a developmental role. This requires well-run state institutions staffed by skilled public servants committed to the public good. </p>
<p>This vision is achievable if key problems are <a href="http://www.poa.gov.za/news/Documents/NPC%20National%20Development%20Plan%20Vision%202030%20-lo-res.pdf">addressed</a>. These include making a clearer separation between the roles of political principals and administrative heads and creating a public service that is shielded from political patronage. This would mean doing away with political deployments.</p>
<p>Public servants also need to be shielded from political interference and job security should be decoupled from political patronage and whims. Recruitment policies should emphasise experience, skill and expertise. Clear career paths should also be developed for technical specialists.</p>
<p>Finally, state-owned enterprises must be reformed and their governance structures improved. </p>
<p>South Africa has clearly identified what an efficient public service looks like. In addition, there are exemplary models, such as <a href="http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1775450/china-should-dangle-some-economic-carrots-long-term-success">Singapore’s</a> that it could emulate to create a meritocratic, professional, highly capable and corruption-free public service.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mills Soko does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Political factors have played a disproportionate role in decisions on the promotion, transfer and performance assessments of government officials.Mills Soko, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.