Why the Past Matters: Histories of the Public Service in South Africa

The document examines how the historical structure of the apartheid-era public service, particularly the dysfunctional and patronage-based administrations of the former homelands, has hindered post-apartheid public sector reform. It highlights that the wholesale incorporation of homeland officials into new provincial governments without rigorous qualification testing led to continued corruption and service delivery failures. The authors argue that the adoption of New Public Management (NPM) failed because it ignored these specific historical contexts, and that the resulting deterioration of service quality has politicized issues of skill and training in the public service.

• The discipline of public administration in South Africa has historically been too descriptive and vocational, lacking the analytical and historical depth needed to understand why public sector reform initiatives often fail.
• The former homeland administrations were characterized by massive duplication, a lack of qualified personnel, and a culture of corruption and patronage, often fusing judicial and administrative functions.
• During the transition to democracy, the ANC government largely retained homeland officials to ensure political support and fill administrative gaps, bypassing the implementation of qualification criteria and testing.
• There is a direct correlation between the level of systematic corruption in post-apartheid provincial administrations and the degree of administrative continuity with the old homeland systems.
• The adoption of New Public Management (NPM) reforms in South Africa was ineffective in provinces because it assumed a bureaucratic, law-driven starting point, whereas former homeland administrations operated via informal networks and personal rule.
• The integration of former homeland officials led to a perceived coincidence between the implementation of Affirmative Action and the deterioration of public service quality, which has since politicized the issue of professional skills.

APA

Chipkin, I., & Meny-Gibert, S. (2011). Why the Past Matters: Histories of the Public Service in South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PARI-S-E-1-why-the-past-matters-may2011-web-2.pdf

Chicago

Chipkin, Ivor, and Sarah Meny-Gibert. Why the Past Matters: Histories of the Public Service in South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2011. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PARI-S-E-1-why-the-past-matters-may2011-web-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chipkin |first1=Ivor |last2=Meny-Gibert |first2=Sarah |title=Why the Past Matters: Histories of the Public Service in South Africa |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=May 2011 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PARI-S-E-1-why-the-past-matters-may2011-web-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chipkin2011why, author = {Chipkin, Ivor and Meny-Gibert, Sarah}, title = {{Why the Past Matters: Histories of the Public Service in South Africa}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2011}, month = may, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PARI-S-E-1-why-the-past-matters-may2011-web-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }