The economist Dawie Roodt. (Archive photo: Reint Dykema)
Dawie Roodt does not say civil servants are not important.
“I want to make it very clear. I am not opposed to civil servants. But we have a weak civil servant,” he emphasized after the Association of Civil Servants (USA) was unhappy about Roodt’s recent comments that South Africa has a “parasitic state” and that certain civil servants are the real “state creators”.
The US believes Roodt’s recent comments are “unfounded and extremely insulting” to the country’s thousands of hard-working civil servants who serve people with dedication. The union also accuses the economist of generalising.
“Civil servants are of critical importance to South Africa,” Roodt emphasized on Wednesday morning when Maroela Media approached him about the criticism.
He also knows that some civil servants reacted negatively to the comments he made last week at the online business newspaper BizNews’ conference in Hermanus.
However, the vast majority of the response he has received since the conference has been overwhelmingly positive.
Read here: ‘Parasitic state’: Civil servants the real state makers – Dawie Roodt
“For certain civil servants, their job is not a job. They are called to do it. Specifically teachers. I think being a teacher is probably the single most important job in any country. They are extremely important,” Roodt emphasized on Wednesday.
“So it’s not that I think civil servants don’t work. It’s not that all civil servants are like that. Many of them are hopelessly overworked and underpaid. There’s no doubt about that. But that’s where it ends,” he explained.
“As a group – and I must emphasize this – civil servants in South Africa are paid too much and work too little. And it’s not just a matter of opinion. It’s a fact,” he says.
“It’s a fact when you compare it to other people in the country and it’s a fact when you compare it to other countries in the world.”
Dawie Roodt at the online business newspaper BizNews’ conference in Hermanus last week. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Roodt believes that this is also a fact given the outcomes that civil servants in South Africa produce.
“And once again, education is a very good example,” says Roodt.
“We spend more on education than most countries in the world – nominally relatively speaking and absolutely speaking. In other words, relative to the size of our economy and the actual amounts of money our (state) teachers are paid. We pay them very well. And the outcome is not just poor. It is sometimes the worst in the world.”
Roodt refers to several studies including the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), an international survey on literacy. This study measures reading literacy at gr. 4 learners and showed that South Africa is one of the worst readers (at this age) in the world. Eight out of ten of these learners (81%) cannot read with understanding.
“Now, I’m not saying it’s the teachers’ fault. A lot of it has to do with poor political leadership,” said Roodt.
He also refers to the police to substantiate his statement. “Need I say anything about South Africa’s police? Just turn on the radio and listen to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. Look at the crime statistics.”
Dawie Roodt at the online business newspaper BizNews’ conference in Hermanus last week. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
Roodt said during last week’s speech that the average civil servant is paid more than R50 000 per month, while there are more than 1.2 million civil servants. State-owned enterprises and entrepreneurs are excluded from this.
“The salary of civil servants represents a third of total government expenditure and as a percentage of the gross domestic product, civil servants get – and I don’t use the word ‘earn’, but the word ‘get’, because there is a difference – they get about 13% of the economy,” said Roodt.
“About 1.2 million people out of a total workforce of about 15 million people get 13% of the economy. Isn’t that right?” Roodt repeated to Maroela on Wednesday.
However, the US said in its response that public service workers face the same challenges, such as rising costs of living, as any other South African.
“What about the 10 million people who don’t even have jobs? What about the 12 million to 13 million people in the private sector who can’t get these ridiculous raises? What about them?” was Roodt’s response to that.