By their very nature, bureaucracies stifle communication and slow down progress. We plan to have a flattened management structure and plan to manage each park as a business unit. Talk of managing parks like a business seems to cause concern as people think we are contemplating over-commercialising the parks. No, what we mean is that a park manager or park warden should understand the concept of balance sheets, regardless of whether or not a park is profitable. However, opportunities of realising an income from park operations should be seized vigorously.
Most parks have the potential to be viable.
We should also carefully consider what our core business is and how best we can muster resources to achieve our mandate. There are instances when, for example, out-sourcing some of our operations would optimise our ability to raise revenue. An out-sourcing strategy would be a particularly useful tool for giving our neighbours a chance for economic development. Services such as catering, laundry or retailing could be ideal community empowerment tools. We already have an economic empowerment policy and in keeping with this, priority in forming contracts or partnerships would be given to those who were disadvantaged under apartheid - particularly the communities around the parks.