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DA says Dept of Telecoms & Post must be scrapped

The Democratic Alliance has vowed to reduce ‘bloatware’ in government if it’s elected.

Party leader Mmusi Maimane said a DA government would consolidate the present departments of science and tech, telecoms and communications and all other “bloated” departments into 15 “cost-effective” ministries.

Maimane suggested that having too many departments inflated costs incurred by the state, which is made worse by corruption across the board.

“Our Cabinet has become obscene. The staff, the bodyguards, the luxury cars, the first class flights, the food, the office refurbishments and the five star hotel stays. All status, no substance, and at the cost of billions of rands,” Maimane said.

“If elected to national government, we would save R4.7 billion per year simply by re-organising the executive into a streamlined, delivery-oriented cabinet of 15 ministries. We call it Operation Hlasela Mafutha or “Cut the Fat”,” he proposed.

Under the DA cabinet, the Department of Science and Technology, as well as Higher Education and Arts and Culture, would fall away and the Further Education, Skills and Innovation Ministry would encompass their mandates, supporting the work-readiness and productivity of job-seekers and the employed, among other benefits.

Telecommunications and Postal services, Communications along with a handful of other departments’ mandates, would fall under the Economic Infrastructure Ministry. This ministry would combine and streamline the efforts of the above ministries which contribute to the basic conditions of South Africa’s business environment.

Perhaps doing away with the Telecoms department, often the subject of an example of non-delivery in government, particularly in reference to the SA Connect shortfalls, may not be a bad idea at all.

By focusing government spending on ‘core’ productive initiatives and programmes, government expenditure can lead to a crowding in, and not crowding out effect. Crowding in occurs
when government expenditure is complementary to that of the private sector, the document says.

“Imagine how refreshing it would be if President Zuma announced a bold government-wide waste cutting programme like this in next week’s State of the Nation Address,” Maimane said about the kind of change he would like the president to focus on.

You can read the full Vision 2029 Maximising Service Delivery document on the DA’s website.

[Image – DA]

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