Stop excuses and start delivering

Editor | Wednesday July 9, 2008 00:00

Gaolathe was reportedly taken to task in the copper mining town of Selebi-Phikwe over the long overdue construction of the College of Applied Arts and Technology. Its construction was meant to have started two years ago! Selebi-Phikwe councillors appropriately addressed Gaolathe on the issue, for he is the right person to proffer an explanation.

The minister should have gone beyond promises of speeding up the college's construction. Gaolathe, as one of the country's longest serving ministers of finance and development planning must have known the exact reasons for that delay. In fact he has long been associated with that ministry before as its Permanent Secretary. 

It is only therefore fair to expect him to be highly conversant with issues that had hindered speedy implementation of public projects. Previously, there had been charges of bickering among top civil servants, whose overly inflated egos had led to project implementation delays. Interestingly, those charges had been leveled at the officials of Gaolathe's ministry who had deliberately frustrated efforts of other officials, primarily on account of showing them who is senior and controls the public purse. 

It is our hope that with the new administration at the government enclave, the entire civil service will give delivery the requisite priority. We cannot continue in the business 'as usual mode'.

Practically, given the comparative leanness of our public service, there is no justification whatsoever why we should continue to have lethargic service delivery characterised by shoddy implementation.

This state of affairs has not only been financially costly to our economic development but has denied us the development of the much-needed skills, as one of the Selebi-Phikwe councillors pointed out. It is for this reason that we implore Gaolathe to stop giving excuses of 'we work on emergencies' and start delivery timeously. In any case, we believe the problems of poor public projects implementation are a direct result of poor supervision and the lacklustre attitude of the top civil service and political leadership. 

This attitude has been the hallmark of our conduct of business. 

We hope the new administration will have no stomach for apologists of non-delivery.

                                             Today's Thought

Quality is not an act, it is a habit.

                                                - Aristotle