No Sacred Cows

Analyst and researcher Gareth van Onselen is even-handed with his tongue lashings of all South Africa’s major political parties.

- Sue Segar

HE RECENTLY SLAMMED CYRIL Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address as “heavy on rhetoric, short on quantifiable goals” then he lambasted Mmusi Maimane’s response as “visionless”. He raised the ire of the EFF when he noted their national caucus has had a 60% turnover rate. Now, prolific political columnist Gareth van Onselen will be scrutinising key national issues in his new role as Head of Politics and Governance at the liberal research and policy thinktank, the South African Institute for Race Relations (IRR).

Interviewed by Noseweek about his new job, Van Onselen says it allows him to do what he loves, primarily to write and analyse politics and ideas. “There’s nobody sitting on your shoulder. That’s a wonderful environment if you’re interested in ideas. Secondly it’s a liberal institution and I consider myself a liberal,” he said.

One project Van Onselen has worked on since joining the institute in January has been the completion of a paper titled “Political Musical Chairs”, analysing the turnover rates for directors-general and ministers in Jacob Zuma’s administration between May 2009 and July 2017. He found there had been 175 changes to DGs across about 40 departments. DGs, he said, were just as infected with the Zuma disease as his cabinet. The average time a DG and minister worked together was between seven and 11 months.

“If Ramaphosa wants this administration to deliver, he must solve political uncertainty and administrative uncertainty. He must ensure DGs are competent, in place for a long time, and able to work with their ministers. He must make competent appointments.”