No quick fixes for South Africa

Bruce Whitfield:
African Leadership coming under the spotlight again this week with the African Business Leaders Forum, and Dr Nick Binedell is the Head of Gibs, the Gordon Institute of Business Science; he joins us on the line now.

And Nick, leaderships are often quite a touchy feely subject, but it really is critical isn’t it, in terms of us getting our continent focused and getting our continent sorted out so that we can succeed not only as a country within the continent, but the continent as a whole.

Dr Nick Binedell:
That is quite right Bruce. In fact, when you look at Africa as a whole, we often forget that the 850 million people on this continent and their future is tied very significantly to the quality of institutions in each and every country and that depends on the leadership of those institutions, whether it is in government, in business or in NGOs, the quality of leaders make all the difference.

Bruce Whitfield:
If you look at leadership on the African continent, the past three or four decades are certainly decidedly lacking, if you look at everybody from the Nat’s to Burundi, Rwanda, Angola, Mozambique; almost every country in Africa have had enormous challenges over the last three or four decades. What is changing on the continent to provide better leadership, provide better skills in the continent?

Dr Nick Binedell:
Well, if I took a general look at it, which won’t apply everywhere, but will apply in many countries, in the post independence era, that was the first wave of a generation of leadership and many were effective, but more were not effective.

We have now got a second generation, I think, that are had the helm of many countries and I think there is much more realism than pragmatism and I think many African countries have realised that their future is in their hands.

I just spent the weekend in Kenya and I was very impressed again, but the dynamism of the economy and people realising that if they cannot make it for themselves, no one else is going to help them.

Bruce Whitfield:
What lessons can we learn from Kenya, because there has been a remarkable, especially in tourism for example, which is a sector which does require quite a lot of attention in this country?

Dr Nick Binedell:
Well, Kenya is a relatively small economy, but Kenya has got a dynamism to it and this idea that you can only make it, you only get an income if you work for it and handouts are not the way to build an economy. I think that is the broad lesson that African economies have had to learn. And the challenge of course, we are now in an increasingly globalised world, in which Africa is going to have to compete toe to toe and head to head with China and India which is really going to test us.

Bruce Whitfield:
Well we are seeing those sorts of tests coming through with Cosatu objections to our importing of fabric for example from China. Those sorts of issues where, South Africa, we do tend to have a bit of a hand out mentality in many cases, we need to be protected from competition, those sorts of things. These are lessons we need to learn surely locally?

Dr Nick Binedell:
Sure, there are all those very complex issues in any sector, but I would say the Governor’s Reserve Bank's response was the right response, which is we must partner and we must find a way to deal with it. Textiles may not be the space in which South Africa can play. What I think is partly missing, is the common understanding in South Africa, and is how we are going to play.

And I think compared to Asian nations, there is often a lack of cohesional coherence, at least in the public mind and how business and government see the future and work together towards it and that is not communicated enough. What is so striking about the Asian economy is they have a plan and it is well communicated to everybody.

Bruce Whitfield:
We have seen some co-operation and we were talking to Michael Spice about this on Friday night in terms of fighting crime and that is a reaction to a problem rather than really, business community and government working together in getting a common vision for growth path for South Africa. Too often, we see business and government at loggerheads rather than in co-operation with each other.

Dr Nick Binedell:
Right and I think we have got to get beyond the reaction, although crime is becoming a national crisis in this country that is very clear. But on the other hand, we need the investments and knowledge and education to tool up the school system, get the universities and ensure that they are producing the kinds of graduates that can be absorbed into the economy.

The fact that South Africa’s unemployed graduates is really an outrage and an indictment on the education system. If people had practical skills, they would be grabbed in an instant.

Bruce Whitfield:
Are we producing the wrong kinds of skills in our education system or not?

Dr Nick Binedell:
Well, I think there is a bit of a mismatch. I think we have far too many BAs who have got a third class pass in BA subjects and who have not rather got some applied skill that an employer is going to find very attractive. When I go to India and spend time there, I am absolutely amazed at the range of institutions. They are equipping youngsters with skills often in software, in programming skills, they are immediately slapped up.

We just send out MBAs to Bangalore or India. Infosys, one company in Bangalore have employed 25 000 new employees this year alone. They had 1.4 million applicants for the 25 000 jobs. They have built their own university to ensure that the people they hire have the skills they need. I think it is that kind of pragmatism that is very important in our universities.

Bruce Whitfield:
But this is a decade long project that we are talking about Nick?

Dr Nick Binedell:
It is. South Africa is beyond the quick fixes. Although we have got some short term issues we have to deal with, I think the planners and the thinkers have got to look ahead now in the next five to ten years and there are some as would infrastructure, we are seeing all the capex, expenditure on roads, rail and transport, so we need to invest strategically in software and that is largely around the skills and there I think businesses and universities and government need to dialogue more actively and more publicly than they have.

Bruce Whitfield:
Do we not just spend too much of our time putting out fires rather than thinking?

Dr Nick Binedell:
Well I think that is part of the legacy of where we have come from. We lose track of just how much things have changed. Futures arrive so quickly that we have lost our bearings and that is where the leadership skills conference that we are having next week is about is take a longer term view, let’s have say and let’s engage on these issues.

Bruce Whitfield:
Nick Binedell great to talk to you, thank you very much indeed, the Head of the Gibs Business School, the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

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