Minister Siviwe Gwarube is in a difficult fight inside the Department of Basic Education to restore integrity, accountability and proper governance. She has my full support, and the full support of the Democratic Alliance.
But this fight is about much more than one Minister or one department.
For three decades, the ANC has presided over a steady weakening of the South African state. The ANC avoided accountability and tolerated poor performance because political loyalty to the party mattered more than professional competence. The education system that should have protected the public interest was allowed to decay.
That culture is not reversed easily. It has to be confronted, patiently and firmly. But that is exactly why the DA entered the GNU.
We did not enter national government to defend the status quo or manage decline. We entered it to fix what has been broken, restore integrity to the state, raise standards and prove that government can work better.
Siviwe Gwarube’s fight is one example of that work.
As the ANC continues to lose its grip on power, more of what has gone wrong inside the state will come into the open. And there will be deep resistance from those cronies and cadres who benefited from weak accountability, and there will be attempts to portray reform as disruption or overreach. There will even be defenders of these cronies and cadres in the commentariat.
But South Africans should see this for what it is, namely the difficult work of rebuilding.
Where the DA has been entrusted with government, we have had to do this before.
We inherit broken systems, weakened administrations and institutions where accountability has been lost. We first stabilise them, then we professionalise them and then we begin the longer work of building capable administrations that deliver better services, manage public money responsibly and earn back public trust.
We know this can be done because the DA has done it where we govern. And now we must do more of it nationally.
The DA is the party in the GNU pushing consistently to reverse the damage of the past, strengthen institutions and restore a culture of consequence and professionalism to government. No other party in the GNU is doing this work with the same vigour.
That work will not always be easy or quick. But it is necessary.
Every vote for the DA gives us greater strength to reform the state, to stand up to entrenched corruption, and to put competent, accountable government at the centre of South Africa’s future.
South Africans should not accept decline as inevitable. We can change the direction of the country as we have changed the direction of municipalities and provinces where we govern.
The state can be honest. It can be capable. It can serve people properly.
That is the work ahead of us.
And South Africa can work – for everyone.
Geordin Hill-Lewis
DA Leader
