The South African Institution of Civil Engineering hosted their third Civil Talk on Thursday, 17 September at their national head office in Midrand. The talk was facilitated by well-known anchor Freek Robinson and the panellists where academic and columnist Steven Eli Friedman and Tebogo Motlashuping, chief director of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The topic of the debate was “Accountability” and sought to answer where accountability should lie and what systems are or should be in place to hold government accountable for corruption.  “Many of the problems we encounter in South Africa is not what went wrong, but what was not fixed,” said Friedman.

Friedman argued accountability begins with the individual: “If anybody is in a place of responsibility – you are accountable. Not just to your company or organisation, but to society at large and the lives you impact through your service.”

The issue of performance agreements to be signed by municipal managers was discussed, ““It has happened in the past that municipal managers have not signed performance contracts to hold people accountable and responsible,” explained Motlashuping. The problem of the many vacant posts in municipalities for both municipal managers and engineers was also raised.

Friedman stated that “government is not a business and business solutions cannot work for government.  Similarly Government  solutions are not business solutions.”

“All sectors in South Africa have to start looking at what ways they are part of the problem and also part of the solution,” he concluded.