"...we will not tolerate laziness and incompetence..."

Yesterday Zuma said when announcing his new cabinet, "We reiterate that we will not tolerate laziness and incompetence and that we will emphasise excellence and achievement from the cabinet and the public service. With these objectives in mind, I am confident that the new structures of government will enable the state machinery to speed up service delivery".

Since I've been working on my projects I have experienced a lot of incompetence and laziness. I ask the circuit manager (in charge of all of the schools in my area) for some information and he said "the regional director of the planning office has that information". I talk to the director "we don't have them the circuit office has them". Then I talk to the circuit manager and he insists the regional director of the planning office has them. The planning office says "oh, WE don't have them, but here's a list of the consultant who have the information you are looking for". A sports and recreation manager said to me, "Jabulani, This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm really excited about this and I'll get deliver this to the municipal manager when he gets back tomorrow". I said countlless times, "I am waiting for your letter of approval to move forward on this project, please have it for me by Friday". 5 months later I type the letter for them to sign and it finally gets done. My service has been plagued by this.

The problem with laziness is it breeds laziness. Sometimes I catch myself justifying my being lazy with someone else's laziness. On Friday, "He probably won't read it until at least Wednesday so I think I will just do nothing today and then fax it on Monday"; instead of getting it done and being efficient and productive. In 3 1/2 weeks I will be going back to the U.S. for a visit and I want to get some of the plans finalized so soon after I get back I can start implementing the projects.

Zuma also warned the civil servants, "the era of hard work has begun". Well, sir, I've been working hard for the last 8 months, I hope that your call for this reform is more than just a rally cry. You campaigned on the slogan "Together we can do more"; well, let's do it.