GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
1.3 Political Influences
Weiss (cited in Smith, 1990:21) cites three major ways In which political influences are present in policy formulation and implementation. First, social programmes are created by political decisions. The NIP document (Departments of Education, Health and Social Development 2000) stipulates that provinces will develop their own implementation plans within the principles and guidelines stipulated in the national plan. The discussion above alludes to the unclear relationship that exists between the policy and programme functions between central and provincial governments. The national co-ordinator gives voice to some of the 'political' challenges that she faced in her role.
I think being nationally appointed, you get perceived as an outsider to the province. I think the tension - it is a matter of power and control. That is
a
problem because there is absolutely nothing you can do. It also impacts on your functioning because you find that decisions that are not programme promotive take place and you can say absolutely nothing. At the end of the day you are really regarded as an interference in the province and there will always be that divide between national and province".The views expressed by the national co-ordinator illustrates the power imbalances that exist between central government and provincial government levels. The province of KwaZulu-Natal has historically been a politically volatile one with tensions existing between the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (Simpson 2001). Lodge (2002) maintains that KwaZulu-Natal has been one of two provinces (the other being Western Cape) who have their own constitutions which gives these provinces the power to make their own decisions regarding budgetary and programme priorities. KwaZulu-Natal's proposed constitution, which envisaged a Zulu monarch with its own independent judiciary including a constitutional court and a militia was rejected by both provincial ANC ministers as well as the Constitutional Court in 1996 (Lodge 2002).
Lodge (2002) indicates that even though provincial governments do not have much discretion in formulating policy, they do have considerable latitude in interpreting and implementing policy. Clearly then the sentiments expressed by the national co-ordinator reveal that political tensions and power imbalances are real and continue to exist between central government and the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This was evident when the Premiere of the province Sbu Ndebele dismissed two IFP counsellors "due to a lack of co-operation" from the cabinet on 1 November 2006 (Lotus Fm News 2 November 2006). Lodge (2002) adds that in contemporary South Africa such conflicts and struggles are an inevitable effect of change, a process of which the outcome is still uncertain.
What is clear is that such political tensions and power imbalances have impacted the overall management and co-ordination of the life-skills, HIV/AIDS education programme with regard to access to technical and human resources, the training of educators and access to district-based support much needed at the school and community (mezzo) level.
Second, co-ordination of social programmes feeds into political decision- making - evaluation competes with other factors that carry weight in the political process. The district co-ordinators provided the example of the contentious decisions taken within the department with regard to the 'problematic' location of the life-skills and HIV/AIDS education programme in the Department of Education's Psychological Guidance Special Education Services (PGSES) section instead of the curriculum section as was the trend in other provinces.
One district co-ordinator emphatically stated: "most programme decisions are political decisions made by provincial managers".
The national co-ordinator asserted:
national and provinces they seem to be independent of each other. National talks and says that the programme is
a
curriculum and it needs to be in the curriculum otherwise it is not sustainable but provinces can do exactly as they please. Now it
becomes very difficult in that sense to interfere in that structure because it is a political decision".
It is clear from the views expressed by the district co-ordinator and the national co-ordinator that there is a lack of synergy between central and provincial government regarding policy formulation and implementation functions.
Moreover, the views expressed by both the national co-ordinator and the district co-ordinators reveal that people in positions of power within the provincial level (KZN DoE) had a profound influence on the location of the life-skills, HIV/AIDS programme and its implementation process. Proponents of the conflict perspective postulate that such power struggles among different groups whose interests, values and behaviours conflict with one another are rooted in a social order that cannot be resolved by technical or administrative reforms. Dominelli (2004), Sewpaul and Holscher (2004) contend that in the context of the spread of a global neoliberal economic order, this new managerialism which is about being more productive and efficient within increased bureaucratic controls and funding cuts has not resulted in the additional resources and services necessary for effective implementation of policies and in this case the life-skills, HIV/AIDS programme.
Third, co-ordination itself is a political enterprise that takes political stances.
Following from the somewhat unclear relationship that exists between central and provincial governments with regard to co-ordination of programmes such as the NIP, the participants questioned the 'fairness' of government shifting its responsibility for service provision from central to the local and community level.
This view is supported by Strode and Grant (2004) who contended that: South Africa is seeing a centralisation of authority and yet a simultaneous decentralisation of responsibility to a community and district level. With the expansion of neo-liberalism, which is underscored in the macro-economic policy of South Africa, the role of the state in service delivery diminishes. Bond (2005:34) indicated in his book, Fanon's Warning that "the privatisation of services and infrastructure provision has led to basic services being inaccessible to the majority of the people and to impoverishment".
Adelzedah (1996:14) argued further that "given the country's need for radical improvement in social services and infrastructural development, the stated objective of the macroeconomic strategy of GEAR to reduce government spending implies a shift to rely on civil society and the private sector for the delivery of services.
Chapter One discusses how the GEAR policy which is underscored by neoliberal ideology has limited the scope and jeopardised the development goals of the White Paper on Social Welfare (Department of Welfare 1997) which cites accessibility of services as one of its key principles in service delivery in South Africa (Sewpaul 1997, Sewpaul and Holscher 2004, Sewpaul 2005b, Raniga, 2005). Writers such as Bond (2005), Sewpaul (2004, 2005a, 2005b), Padaychee (1994), Desai (2002), provide evidence of the detrimental effects that the macroeconomic policy of GEAR has had on the lives of the vulnerable and poor in society.
As a ripple effect of this policy context, the national co-ordinator of the NIP called for not only more resources at schools but for:
actually looking at the environment and the contextual factors in order to strengthen the life-skills programme".
Additionally within this theme cluster, the participants also spoke about the frustrations they experienced every time the KZN Department of Education underwent re-structuring, as this usually meant the re-deployment of staff.
Ndlovu (2004) in a survey of the provincial and social sector HIV/AIDS budgets, noted that issues of human resource capacity shortage and financial problems were identified both in the education and social development sectors. The national co-ordinator was of the opinion that: "the political implications of these decisions cannot be ignored". The district co-ordinators expressed concern about whose responsibility is the management of HIV/AIDS and whether provinces do have a decision-making role to play in policy formulation. They questioned whether or not it will remain as it is at present: where provinces are obligated to implement and administer policies based on structures set by
central government. Additionally, in the new dispensation in South Africa, the power structures within education have had a profound impact on the institutional capacity in schools to effectively deal with the problem of HIV/AIDS.
Clearly, the discussion reflects that there is a close link between the political factors and the 'blurred' relationship between central and provincial governments and this has a systemic effect on the institutional arrangements of the programme, which will be addressed in the next section.