–– Paul Schlehlein
The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Here’s a bit of good news from the southern region of Africa. Visa applications in South Africa that had previously moved at a snail’s pace have recently picked up to breakneck speed. For decades applicants for visas have endured the dawdling movements of the Department of Home Affairs, sometimes waiting years for simple paperwork to return.
Not anymore. The phones of visa applicants are ding-ding-dinging, informing them their papers are ready for pickup. What changed? What’s been the secret? The answer is good old-fashioned competition.
The GNU
October 10 marks 100 days since South Africa’s new, multi-party Government of National Unity (GNU) has been in office. For the first time since its inception in 1994, the previous ruling party of the ANC lost its majority. It was then forced to join up with nine other political parties to form the GNU.
This article is not a defense of South Africa’s GNU. As a Christian, I cannot support most of their godless principles. But I can still enjoy one obvious bright spot. Each party within the GNU wants to show that they are the best at their job, thus creating a kind of healthy competition which is always good for a nation. This goes especially for the leading parties of the ANC and DA which fared poorly in the recent election and have much to prove.
The new Electricity Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa comes from the ANC. Can he fix the power cuts in the nation? The Sports, Arts, and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie hails from the Patriotic Alliance Party. Can he balance his division’s budget or will it plummet into corruption? The Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber represents the Democratic Alliance. He’s set lofty goals to fix the visa backlog by December and diminish the waiting list for IDs. So far the results have been successful. Personally, our family has enjoyed rapid movement on our applications never seen since our arrival to South Africa in 2006.
These men represent not only the people of their nation but their political parties. For decades the ANC has loafed to the finish line because there was no one to compete against. They didn’t sprint like an Olympic runner, fearful the other half dozen competitors might steal their gold medal.
Competition is Good
Government officials are infamous for being unfriendly, unhelpful and surly. Queues are long, Machines don’t work. Employees are late. Why? There’s no competition.
In his book Poverty of Nations, Wayne Grudem lauds the benefits of competition, saying it “leads to interpersonal cooperation, better products, more choices and lower prices.” (p. 16).
Competition, not government, should control the economy of a nation. When government restricts competition, it usually benefits only a few private citizens.
Think about how competition works to make better products. Take headphones, for example. Companies compete against each other to please their customers, making their products better, sleeker, faster, and cheaper. Corded headphones led to Bluetooth, then noise cancelling and on and on. Cars, hammers, shoes, mattresses, and thousands of other products work the same way.
Grudem writes:
Progress and improvement naturally occur when competition and cooperation work together. The result is better service, better quality, and better products provided faster and cheaper to approving customers. (p. 181)
Friedrich Hayek called competition “the only method which does not require the coercive or arbitrary intervention of authority.” That is, in competitive nations, governments don’t have to force their businesses to treat people kindly. If the car dealership is rude to its customers, it will fold.
The Bible on Competition
The 8th Commandment stamps its approval upon the free market when it says, “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15). This assumes private ownership. There are also passages that point to the benefits of healthy competition.
For example, David said in 1 Chronicles 11:6, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first shall be chief and commander.” Essentially, the king said: “May the best man win.” Joab claimed the prize.
In the New Testament, Jesus gives more reasons to obey than just “because I said so”. In Scripture, there exists a healthy competition to follow God’s commands. Being faithful in a little will bring greater responsibility (Mt. 25:21). Of course there also exists sinful competition from those always wanting to be first to the detriment of others (Phil. 2:3-4). But Christ-like competition is good. Not everyone in Heaven gets the same prize, as the Lord promises various rewards to his children (2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 11:6).
Conclusion
Let’s not overspeak on the benefits of the GNU. The cumulous clouds of big government over South Africa loom large. But we can be encouraged that there are still strengths of competition built into this nation that make it better, namely, the democratic voting system that keeps government accountable and the new GNU that has created a small, but healthy competition among the different parties. And Christ-like competition is always good for a nation and its citizens.