In her column “ From the Inside ” on Daily Maverick yesterday, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille criticised President Jacob Zuma’s latest cabinet reshuffle – the 11th in eight year and second in seven months. She wrote: “Cabinet reshuffles hit provinces hard, largely because of their impact on co-operative governance that the Constitution requires on almost every issue. Building a constructive relationship between provincial MECs and national ministers is essential to getting the job done. It sets the context within which officials in different departments work together. And often a project requires co-operation between various departments at different levels simultaneously.” Cabinet changes for political rather than governance reasons will affect provinces in terms of inter-level communication. But provinces have their mandates until the next election and budgets for the year, so I'll wager that impact is minimal. More important is the long-term, systemic failure of the pub...