DA’s Hill-Lewis to halve Cabinet, privatise municipal services
The DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis, current executive mayor of the best-run metro in the country, has two big ideas for government. Shrink it. Then outsource…
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The DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis, current executive mayor of the best-run metro in the country, has two big ideas for government. Shrink it. Then outsource what’s left. The candidate for outright DA leader wants municipal services handed over to private companies. And he also wants Cabinet cut from 32 departments to 15. Fewer departments means fewer bloated ministerial salaries, better service delivery and tangible job creation …
HILL-LEWIS AND RADICAL DA MANIFESTO
Hill-Lewis revealed the outsourcing plan at the DA’s manifesto launch this past long weekend. Refuse collection, water services, and other municipal functions could go to private operators. 702 asked local government expert, Miyelani Holeni, if this might actually work. Holeni pointed out the UK and US faced similar problems and some went even further than what Hill-Lewis is proposing.
“Some have multiple private entities who are competing for customers. So, imagine a day when refuse collection is provided by Thabo’s company, the next day it could be XYZ Company and Sons,” Holeni said. Contracted companies must meet the standards ratepayers expect and demand. Clear incentives reward top performers with government-backed funds, while penalties remove the ones who don’t deliver.
Moreover, the DA’s Hill-Lewis made a second case at a BizNews Conference on effective governance. South Africa runs 32 national departments. While the US, Germany, Japan and the UK run far fewer, with far bigger economies attached. The DA has wanted a smaller Cabinet for years, however, being in the GNU meant a bigger Cabinet than many wanted.
“We absolutely believe that the Cabinet should be much smaller. And I can think off the top of my head of a number of portfolios that could be absorbed elsewhere or removed entirely. They are the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation to name just two,” Hill-Lewis concluded.
But what do you think? Should South African have less government departments and ministers? And do you think outsourcing municipal services would work in practice? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …