The governance of basic education in the Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape province experienced governmental re-organisation after South Africa’s 1994 democratic transition
Abstract
The Eastern Cape province experienced extensive governmental re-organisation following South Africa’s 1994 democratic transition. This entailed significant structural consolidation in the provincial government, and the integration of a disparate set of political and administrative actors under the stewardship of the African National Congress (ANC). This process has had a profound effect on the province’s capacity to shape and implement policy, especially in institutionally fragmented sectors such as basic education. Employing the political settlements framework to characterise the province’s governance transformation, the authors describe how historical patterns of clientelism were transplanted into a post-apartheid political and administrative settlement, resulting in considerable intra-party cleavages amongst the political elite and impeding the growth of a rule-compliant, insulated and performance-driven bureaucracy. This has been particularly acute in the education sector, which has seen chronic leadership instability, politicisation and financial mismanagement, and which has compromised the cohesion and integrity of provincial school oversight and policy management.
This output was funded under the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre programme
Citation
ESID (2017) The governance of basic education in the Eastern Cape. ESID working paper no. 83. Manchester: Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre, The University of Manchester, 39p
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