Green Shoots: Accountability is vital for progress

I decided that I would keep Green Shoots completely separate from my work. It makes sense to do that - I don’t put my organisation at risk for the political and other views I hold, and I don’t bore readers with stuff that belongs in boardrooms and meetings. But, my work is more often than not about the human condition. We work for social justice, and we support local community organisations in their resistance against the dehumanisation of poverty, corruption, violence and marginalisation.

Every now and then I get to do some really interesting things. This year we have been working on a project about accountability, exploring what it means for ordinary people and how they can actively hold those in power to account. A major part of the project is to facilitate local conversations in a few communities in five provinces, for now. In the training of facilitators, we use a method that asks people to reflect on a time when they acted in a way that was not accountable, when they didn’t do something that they said they would.

The process goes on to explore issues of personal and public accountability, and how there needs to be consequences if things that are promised are not delivered. It is my sincere hope that this community engagement will help residents of our country to find ways to take up action that will make all of us more accountable, but particularly those who are in positions that are meant to be in service of others – councillors, civil servants, and politicians.

We have been working with an organisation that has an excellent online platform to track government promises. The platform lists the promises made by government, usually through policy statements like the President’s speech to parliament or the Medium Term Development Plan, and then does research into how those promises are being met. You can see it for yourself at africancitizenswatch.org/south-africa. Later this month we will launch a report on the first year’s performance of our GNU, an assessment that is based on hard data. As you read this, there are thousands of enumerators gathering the views of people living in South Africa in what is called the Citizens Perception and Expectation Survey. This will become a regular check on what ordinary people feel and think about the performance of national, provincial and municipal government. I certainly am looking forward to reading that when it is published.

I’ve written on the National Dialogue that continues to make the headlines, and I’ve argued that it can be a good thing if it is genuine in allowing the voices of those who are not usually heard to be amplified in the discussions about where the country needs to go. This accountability project wasn’t designed as part of the National Dialogue, but it provides a useful approach to getting people talking, and getting people active in demanding greater accountability from our leaders at all levels. It uses hard data gained through proper research to tell the story of how well government is doing in keeping its promises. It checks what people are feeling about government’s performance in this regard, and because the survey uses sound research methods it will provide a credible description of the mood of the

country. And the project creates the space for people to talk with each other about how they see things happening and what they might want to do about it. And you won’t need to have one of our facilitators for a conversation to take place. When it’s been tested and finalised, the facilitator’s guide will be accessible so that organisers, faith groups, activists, and any organised formation in our communities can facilitate conversations that could lead to greater social action. I’m writing about this because it is a great avenue for ordinary people

to break the hopelessness of thinking there is nothing they can do, and to get involved practically in building a society that is serious about accountability and the consequences of not doing what you’re supposed to. I’m convinced that, together with the constitutional and legal provisions for good governance, it is community action that will ensure accountable behaviour in people and institutions in South Africa.