Government inefficiency was laid bare yesterday when members of the Gauteng legislature's portfolio committee on infrastructure development visited Mohlakeng Clinic, south of Randfontein, on the West Rand.
The committee found that the geyser at the clinic was not working and that it had been without hot water for a year. The air conditioning, heaters and cupboard doors were all in need of repair. The paint on many walls was flaking. And the light bulb in the medicines store room should have been replaced nine months ago.
But such revelations are hardly shocking - Mohlakeng Clinic is a depressingly typical example of what is happening in the public health sector .
We believe the situation at this one clinic goes to the heart of what is wrong with South Africa today.
If the health authorities cannot even replace a light bulb, and no one at the clinic is sufficiently motivated to do so, what else is not being done?
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has said taxpayers will have to tighten their belts yet again to fund government projects. But why should they when the government cannot do its job?
What will it take to get government officials to put in a honest day's work? They seem to feel that they are accountable only to the party bosses who gave them their cushy jobs, not the people - so service delivery takes a back seat.
Only when the government can get the small things right will it be able to deal with the bigger problems this country faces.
We are told that we should find home-grown solutions, so why are we not learning from those who have conquered their problems?
New York radically reduced its crime rate by focusing on small transgressions because "small disorders lead to larger ones ".
We must stop wasting money on high-profile commissions, investigations and stakeholder meetings and do the small things perfectly.
It should not take 10 or 20 signatures to get a light bulb changed.
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