During his recent visit to South Africa, World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu offered some light-hearted insight into how cultural realities and experiences continued to play a significant role, despite the fact that the world is more inter- connected than it has ever been.

On returning to India from a 16-year academic stint in the US, the then chief economic adviser to the Indian government – a post Basu held until July last year – found his house in Delhi to be infested with termites.

“I had to call in a local pest-control agency to ask them to take care of the termite problem in my home,” he relates.

“So, a very cheerful man with four, or five different kinds of chemicals came and started spraying chemicals . . . working very hard in my house.”

After a while, Basu ventured to ask the man whether he was convinced that all the hard work and spraying would pay off, to which the pest controller responded: “Sir, have no worries what-soever. These chemicals are very strong . . . they are totally banned in the US!”

The story highlights the fact that something highly uncomfortable in one cultural setting provides a deep sense of comfort in another.

But this story is possibly instructive for South Africa in an entirely different and less humorous sense.

It has become fairly common, you see, for leading South African officials to point to the prevailing weaknesses in global economics and politics as a way of suggesting that citizens draw comfort from the fact that, while things are admittedly bad domestically, they are just as bad, possibly worse, internationally.

Now, that’s arguably fair comment. The eurozone remains in deep crisis and despite its recent election, politics in the US has remained toxic enough to have prompted the dreaded sequester and its associated $85-billion in budget cuts. Africa, as we all know, is growing consistently, but remains prone to dislocating events, as has been the case recently in Mali. Even countries such as China and India are preparing for a period of lower growth.

The problem is that, in South Africa, the commentary is often being used to divert attention away from a lack of action on matters that can be improved even in the absence of strong economic growth and additional resources.

For instance, more urgency could be shown on the issue of government waste. True, there is a lot of corruption, but much of the waste comes in the form of poor resource allocation, dismal post-tender management and a pure lack of diligence from officials in ensuring that what has been specified is actually delivered.

Imagine a situation where we could trust that the R1.15-trillion that has been set aside for government expenditure for 2013/14 is actually spent correctly. Imagine the efficiency dividend society would reap if all teachers, nurses and municipal workers performed deligently.

The appeal, therefore, is for government, business and labour leaders to draw no solace from the fact that things may be worse elsewhere as it is cold comfort for the rest of us.