The government's problems in providing quality services to communities such as Soweto are aptly captured by the Soweto-born author, Muzi Khuzwayo, in his book There's a Tsotsi in the Boardroom.

The government's problems in providing quality services to communities such as Soweto are aptly captured by the Soweto-born author, Muzi Khuzwayo, in his book There's a Tsotsi in the Boardroom.

Khuzwayo blames privatisation for poor services. "We have been made to believe that privatisation will enhance delivery of social services. The opposite is very likely to occur.

"For the market to succeed, there shouldn't be a single buyer or marketer that can alter the course of the market. In many instances, the government is the only buyer of social services and infrastructure such as roads, refuse collection and so on.

"The only customer, which in this case is the government, puts out a tender and the marketer with the lowest price usually gets the job. This encourages the companies that tender for the business to cut corners in order to avoid cutting their profits.

"This in turn hurts the customer."