Proposals for State Reform

The Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) is releasing three position papers in August 2019 aimed at structural state reform in South Africa. The proposals focus on depoliticising public service recruitment, reforming state procurement to support development while strengthening contract management, and increasing the independence of senior appointments within criminal justice institutions to combat state capture and corruption.

• The document argues that addressing 'state capture' requires structural reforms rather than relying solely on the morality of future leaders and citizens, as these reforms are necessary to "insulate its public administration from illicit political interference".
• Regarding state procurement, PARI suggests that while the system is the "major site of corruption", reforms should focus on enabling economic and social development by loosening certain rules to facilitate good purchasing and black economic empowerment, while simultaneously strengthening contract management through "an innovative mechanism incentivising private enforcement".
• To stabilise government institutions and limit graft, PARI proposes that recruitment in local government and below a certain level in national and provincial government should be "depoliticised", while the executive maintains control over policy direction.
• PARI proposes increasing the independence of criminal justice institutions by changing the selection and removal processes for senior personnel, specifically targeting the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, the head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, and the head of the Directorate of Priority Crimes.

APA

Public Affairs Research Institute (2019). Proposals for State Reform. https://pari.org.za/media-statement-proposals-for-state-reform-betterstate/

Chicago

Public Affairs Research Institute. Proposals for State Reform. 2019. https://pari.org.za/media-statement-proposals-for-state-reform-betterstate/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Public Affairs Research Institute |title=Proposals for State Reform |date=13 June 2019 |url=https://pari.org.za/media-statement-proposals-for-state-reform-betterstate/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{publicaffairsresearchinstitute2019proposals, author = {{Public Affairs Research Institute}}, title = {{Proposals for State Reform}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://pari.org.za/media-statement-proposals-for-state-reform-betterstate/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }