There has been much debate of late – in the media and elsewhere – about whether new Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is capable of leading a city with a R70-billion-plus yearly budget, given his modest educational credentials. By many accounts, he dropped out of school after Grade 10.
The subtext of the ongoing discourse is that individuals whose accomplishments on the educational front are rather skimpy shouldn’t assume leadership roles, especially roles that give them the authority to make weighty decisions or control huge budgets. The average South African would be aware of the frequent taunts thrown the way of the Democratic Alliance’s degree-less trio of John Steenhuisen, Natasha Mazzone and Alan Winde, for example.
The ‘logic’ that a lack of formal education equates to an inability to lead complex entities such as corporations, political parties and government bodies in all their guises can be pushed back against on many fronts. In the ongoing debate sparked by the revelation that the City of Gold’s number one citizen doesn’t seem to have studied at a college or university, someone brought up the interesting matter of social progression in South Africa, as opposed to social progress. With respect to education, this has manifested in us pretending that a 30% score in an exam is a pass mark as one of many measures to ensure that as many kids as possible get to study at tertiary level.
The upshot, the argument goes, is that not everyone who has been through the portals of an institution of higher learning is smart enough to assume a major leadership position.
I do not necessarily agree with this view. But the point is that it is not only a university lecture hall that equips individuals with critical thinking skills. The Faculty of Hard Knocks at the University of Life can be as good a place, if not better. The many high-profile people who don’t have a university degree but went on to establish huge businesses – amassing billions in the process – are proof of this.
There are also examples from the political world, even here in Mzansi. Some might not agree, but Jacob Zuma is one such example. It’s a matter of public record that he didn’t progress beyond junior primary school. Regardless, he went on to become a provincial MEC in charge of the Economic Development portfolio and subsequently State President. Before that, he served his political party, the African National Congress, as chief representative to Mozambique – a role in which he obviously had to be at the top of his game as far as diplomacy and geopolitics are concerned – and as head of intelligence.
Granted, Zuma’s Presidency has been lambasted as the “nine wasted years” and the evidence led at the commission of inquiry into State capture casts him in a very bad light, as do the charges he faces in the courts. But in all this the issue has never been about him being so overwhelmed by the positions he held – owing to his limited formal education – that he ended up messing up. No, it has always been about his alleged venality.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is also led by a President – Félix Tshisekedi – without a tertiary qualification, but one wouldn’t say he doesn’t have a handle on his country’s affairs. I could go on.
Compare these leaders with someone like Robert Mugabe, who had seven earned degrees, including an MSc in economics from the University of London nogal, but messed up Zimbabwe so badly through mismanagement. As early as 1991, only 11 years after independence, the economy was beginning to fall apart, and he had no choice but to implement an Economic Structural Adjustment Programme prescribed by the International Monetary Fund.
Our obsession with our political leaders’ educational qualifications is clearly misplaced.