Qualified or battle-tested? What makes a politician fit to lead?
The qualifications debate: What makes a politician fit to lead?
Image: InShot
South African politics is fraught with squabbles and fights among the titans in different political parties. Some of the contentious issues that always crop up are that of academic qualifications or lack thereof and politicians' age.
It is not uncommon for ministers to head a ministry for which they have no qualifications.
This has drawn criticism from a senior political science lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Zakhele Ndlovu, who believes academic qualifications are a prerequisite for good leadership in the political arena.
"Experience and qualifications do matter. The problem is that the African National Congress (ANC) had no governance experience when it assumed power in 1994. What made matters worse is that ANC deployees also lacked relevant qualifications. 90% of our lawmakers have no law background and these MPs also vote on the budget without any knowledge of it," Ndlovu said.
He claimed that these members are essentially 'voting fodder' who merely follow the party line.
In contrast, in a country like China a political hopeful needs to typically have decades of experience in provincial leadership and academic credentials in engineering, law, economics, or Marxist theory to make a big splash.
"Leadership in China is determined by a combination of legal mandate and political merit, ensuring those who rise to the highest offices are proven in governance, ideology, and loyalty to the Party," said China's State Council Information Office in 2023.
New Patriotic Alliance (PA) member Liam Jacobs recently alluded that Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen (49) is incompetent and questioned his academic achievements and merit.
"I have an honours degree, at that point I was in politics for seven years, and I get told by somebody that just has matric, who is a trust fund baby also, 'we are so happy to be where we are because in the DA, we don't do representivity'," said the 24-year-old.
However, the DA has consistently shot down such attacks. Spokesperson Willie Aucamp said that their opponents are clinging to sideline politics because they have nothing else to attack.
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"Minister Steenhuisen has been a member of the city council. He was the youngest person ever elected to that position. He served there for many years. He was a member of the provincial legislature in KwaZulu-Natal, serving on various portfolios.
"He was the provincial leader of the DA in KZN and became a member of Parliament for several terms. Those parties saying you can't do that without matric must give that accusation to any matriculant out there and tell them they do not expect them to perform," said Aucamp.
Additionally, Ndlovu also told IOL that he takes issue with cabinet appointments where people are being 'recycled'.
"Take Angie Motshekga (70), she was Minister of Education and then she was appointed as the Minister of Defence without any background in defence or military.
"Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (75) is another example, she served as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Home Affairs and then at the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA.) This is crazy," Ndlovu said.
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