If government was my Mac

SA's government is inefficient. SA's government is ineffective. It's plagued by corruption and answers to those with deep pockets.

How often do we hear complaints of this nature and brazenly, or silently, agree? It's the one comment you can make at those awkward social gatherings, without the fear of sounding stupid.

With government, it's like waiting for a page to load... and waiting and waiting and waiting. Good luck trying to contact your ISP.

Can you imagine the drama and long hours spent in queues trying to fix the mess that Aarto is likely to bring with the current implementation?

Farzana Rasool, journalist, ITWeb

We always talk about how little government actually does for us and the minimal difference it makes in our lives.

Now, for once, let's stop and look at things from that greener side.

Let's for once assume government is efficient and effective. The immediate problem is obvious. In what? What would government be effective in? What and whose plans would it effectively carry out?

Herein, comrades, let me proceed to tell you that we will approach the suggested conclusion that was proposed by none other than myself that government would be like my MacBook. It could have all the efficiency, but would still need someone to think for it.

This is especially true for IT and technology systems.

If our current government had the processing power, but no external (or different) source to provide the input, chances are we would find ourselves with cities that spent millions on powerful, high-capacity equipment, just to have the best Christmas lights in the world.

The truth is, if government were like my Mac and it also thought for itself, I would probably be walking around with an e-tag on my forehead right now, tracked by a satellite and charged for every step I take on a pavement to help maintain it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if government were truly effective, but with its current thought process intact, we would right now have an e-tolling system that would effectively suck a big hole out of the salary of every person who manages to make it to the other side of the unemployment rate.

The intelligent number plate system - had government been efficient enough to implement it over the million or so deadlines it set for the project - would have seen citizens paying for yet another e-tag-like device that has to be read by handheld devices.

Why is this oh so silly? E-tolling will also require that e-tags be placed on cars and also necessitates overhead gantries that can read them automatically. I'm no techno genius, but could both the projects not then be combined?

We would also have an Aarto infringement Act in place, for which the administrative process is still in a shambles.

The powers that be can't even perfect the procedure of how to deliver fines to naughty drivers.

How much faith then can we have in the rest of the demerit system? How can I be sure that I'm getting the correct fines and that my licence doesn't get suspended before my maximum demerit points have been reached?

Can you imagine the drama and long hours spent in queues trying to fix the mess that Aarto is likely to bring with the current implementation?

So maybe it's a good thing they are as inefficient as they are. It gives them a chance to really think about what they're doing, while they're trying to make it work.

Or it gives us a chance to throw out our toys and point out the gaping holes before they dump a pebble bed modular reactor on us that we don't need, but that will take a chunk out of the budget anyway.

So, while we would have had tracking devices on criminals and a system at home affairs that would speed up the deathly processes, we also would have had a pro-corruption system in the current form of Aarto and a sustenance-sucking project in the name of e-tolling.

In this case then, I doubt you'll be moving your mouse around impatiently, begging the 'page' to load the next time you blink.

Choose, good people. Until we have a government that is smart, we should not hope for one that is efficient.