Our Collective Allergies to Competence

IN preparing for this column on excellence in institutions, I had two interesting discussions.

One was with a French friend who labelled it colloquially “un débat du bled” (a third-world debate). In the second, I merely wanted to test the validity of my claim with my radical Pan-Africanist Afro-Caribbean friend who considers my continental vision moderate for someone who endured apartheid.In no way do I want to pre-empt or solicit your agreement through my second discussion, but it culminated in a somewhat unusual anti-climax because Joël agreed with me on the merit of the hard case being evinced here.In the main, this article is appropriate in light of the recently concluded cabinet-retreat which concluded that skills shortages were amongst the key issues hampering government delivery.Looking at it in part, one would not contest that conclusion.But, let us also denude that perspective.To illustrate this point, the Afrikaner case study, though atypical and perhaps controversial, provides interesting insights on how leaders can advance a doctrine of excellence.Afrikaner hegemony was premised on creating competent and skilled Afrikaners for political and business leadership.Yes, the parochial Afrikaner nationalists lacked vision for an inclusive societal project, but certainly not in a communitarian sense.Their success in dealing with the “armblanke vraagstuk” and creating world-class institutions for themselves is a lucid testimony.It was no surprise to see the heads of institutions receive training at top universities, be they Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge and locally Stellenbosch, RAU or Pretoria.The list of highly skilled leaders would go on for private and public institutions such as the Central Bank, Sasol, Iscor, Sanlam etc.That’s why in 2006 it is no coincidence that Stellenbosch University would be led by a renowned Afrikaner A-rated mathematician with two doctorates (one from Cambridge and another from RAU).Yet, it does not bother many of us in this country that the Bank of Namibia or key Government departments don’t have any PhDs in their employ.Equally so, it is of no concern that a litany of heads of departments at the University of Namibia don’t possess doctorates.Very soon, judging from the quality of some of its “post-graduate” qualifications, it will be of no consequence if this same University doesn’t have professors in its ranks! This is not only a mockery of what State institutions should be and look like, but also an insult to those who go through the pain of obtaining decent, competitive tertiary education.The point being made here is not that PhDs or postgraduate qualifications from Cambridge, UCT or Sorbonne are a sine qua non for successful leadership, vision and competence count.One would often hear the Prime Minister or some Government official bemoaning the brain-drain and a lack of skills in this country.But then our ruling elite have taken the very habit of auto-gesticulating, repeating the same mantra in their speeches without their offices reflecting what they say.In fact, I would not be wasting ink on such a “Third World debate” if President Pohamba, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers had an operational doctrine of excellence and could integrate highly trained Namibians in their offices.This absence could be a result of what we could term “involuntary or voluntary denunciation” of skilled Namibians.Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, contrary to his African counterparts, spoke about competent leaders for the country.Incontrovertible evidence suggests that his cabinet and bureaucracy reflected that and it remains the key to Singapore’s sustainable success.A priori, a minister of foreign affairs, finance or trade and industry, a permanent secretary, if competent and skilled, is a logical candidate for leadership in a regional, continental or international institution.Parachuting party apparatchiks to strategic positions through political clientelism is unlikely to provide that.Namibia constructed a psyche since Independence that anybody can do the job and as a consequence we perpetuate State failure.In fact, some of the bureaucratic and political appointments are shameful to our republic.The conclusion then, is that the primary cactus is not necessarily a prevalent lack of skills as the Cabinet indaba concluded, but rather incongruence and our collective allergies to competence.Whether or not this allergy will mend remains a matter of conjecture.Nevertheless it needs mention that the Namibian state, as a quasi-European historical construct, is unsustainable without integrating competence and skills as a non-negotiable doctrine.Possibly, and I persist, the only lesson we could draw from our ugly, inhumane Afrikaner apartheid past.* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris- Panthéon Sorbonne, France.In the second, I merely wanted to test the validity of my claim with my radical Pan-Africanist Afro-Caribbean friend who considers my continental vision moderate for someone who endured apartheid.In no way do I want to pre-empt or solicit your agreement through my second discussion, but it culminated in a somewhat unusual anti-climax because Joël agreed with me on the merit of the hard case being evinced here.In the main, this article is appropriate in light of the recently concluded cabinet-retreat which concluded that skills shortages were amongst the key issues hampering government delivery.Looking at it in part, one would not contest that conclusion.But, let us also denude that perspective.To illustrate this point, the Afrikaner case study, though atypical and perhaps controversial, provides interesting insights on how leaders can advance a doctrine of excellence.Afrikaner hegemony was premised on creating competent and skilled Afrikaners for political and business leadership.Yes, the parochial Afrikaner nationalists lacked vision for an inclusive societal project, but certainly not in a communitarian sense.Their success in dealing with the “armblanke vraagstuk” and creating world-class institutions for themselves is a lucid testimony.It was no surprise to see the heads of institutions receive training at top universities, be they Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge and locally Stellenbosch, RAU or Pretoria.The list of highly skilled leaders would go on for private and public institutions such as the Central Bank, Sasol, Iscor, Sanlam etc.That’s why in 2006 it is no coincidence that Stellenbosch University would be led by a renowned Afrikaner A-rated mathematician with two doctorates (one from Cambridge and another from RAU).Yet, it does not bother many of us in this country that the Bank of Namibia or key Government departments don’t have any PhDs in their employ.Equally so, it is of no concern that a litany of heads of departments at the University of Namibia don’t possess doctorates.Very soon, judging from the quality of some of its “post-graduate” qualifications, it will be of no consequence if this same University doesn’t have professors in its ranks! This is not only a mockery of what State institutions should be and look like, but also an insult to those who go through the pain of obtaining decent, competitive tertiary education.The point being made here is not that PhDs or postgraduate qualifications from Cambridge, UCT or Sorbonne are a sine qua non for successful leadership, vision and competence count.One would often hear the Prime Minister or some Government official bemoaning the brain-drain and a lack of skills in this country.But then our ruling elite have taken the very habit of auto-gesticulating, repeating the same mantra in their speeches without their offices reflecting what they say.In fact, I would not be wasting ink on such a “Third World debate” if President Pohamba, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers had an operational doctrine of excellence and could integrate highly trained Namibians in their offices.This absence could be a result of what we could term “involuntary or voluntary denunciation” of skilled Namibians.Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime M
inister of Singapore, contrary to his African counterparts, spoke about competent leaders for the country.Incontrovertible evidence suggests that his cabinet and bureaucracy reflected that and it remains the key to Singapore’s sustainable success.A priori, a minister of foreign affairs, finance or trade and industry, a permanent secretary, if competent and skilled, is a logical candidate for leadership in a regional, continental or international institution.Parachuting party apparatchiks to strategic positions through political clientelism is unlikely to provide that.Namibia constructed a psyche since Independence that anybody can do the job and as a consequence we perpetuate State failure.In fact, some of the bureaucratic and political appointments are shameful to our republic.The conclusion then, is that the primary cactus is not necessarily a prevalent lack of skills as the Cabinet indaba concluded, but rather incongruence and our collective allergies to competence.Whether or not this allergy will mend remains a matter of conjecture.Nevertheless it needs mention that the Namibian state, as a quasi-European historical construct, is unsustainable without integrating competence and skills as a non-negotiable doctrine.Possibly, and I persist, the only lesson we could draw from our ugly, inhumane Afrikaner apartheid past. * Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris- Panthéon Sorbonne, France.