Governance - a victim of crime?

Governance is an important part of a nation’s brand, particularly with regard to attracting foreign investment. The annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance, looked upon as a credible calibration by the international community, was released on Monday, when South Africa saw its ranking move down to 5^th place due to high levels of crime, despite high scores in public management and most other areas.

Mo Ibrahim foundation board director Mamphela Ramphele commented that, "South Africa is in the Top 10 in every other category... but [with crime] we are lounging down there with the Somalians of this day and Zimbabweans. It's not a pretty place." In fact, in the personal safety sub-category, South Africa was ranked 44^th – still above Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, but not exactly where the country wants to be.

Crime’s been a target area in South Africa for the last twelve months, given the country’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup amid global concerns about safety. So why the drop? Is the issue policing, poverty or politics? Ramphele identified the root of the problem in the "political culture" of countries: "In our country, South Africa, we have fantastic policies but the performance doesn't always match the policies.”

She draws a parallel between business and government. Activist shareholders keep businesses in line. What we need is citizens’ involvement to drive better governance. But for that you need citizens with the same interest and stake in their government as a shareholder does. In a country where 95% of the population don’t pay taxes, 95% of the population have no reason to fight for a system that makes better use of their money.

But what does the future hold for driving governance, and who are the leaders who are going to ‘up’ the calibrations and raise the rankings on a pan-African scale?

The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership was not awarded in 2010 for the second year running, with no candidate that promoted excellence in leadership. It will be interesting to see how initiatives like the African Leadership Network build a more cohesive community of leaders for the community that might raise the rankings and compete for the award.

Meanwhile, does South Africa forge ahead trying to tackle crime in an isolated manner, or will the country use this as a benchmark for treating the root cause of poor governance overall?

Africa needs more Mo Ibrahims.

I was with Mo Ibrahim yesterday, in the plush offices of his foundation. What a great man. Self-effacing, generous and very committed to advancing better leadership in Africa. I first met him in 2004, before he had sold Celtel. He was a businessman then, with an interest to make money and to help tell the world, particularly institutional investors, about the business opportunities that Africa was yielding for his company and an industry which he had been working in all of his adult life – telecoms. With the attainment of huge wealth after the sale of Celtel to Zain, Mo has lost none of his gentle charm and none of his big ambition either. ‘If you are going to do this’, he said to me, then ‘do it big’, in reference to an assignment that africapractice is supporting the African Union with.

Mo has an armoury of facts and anecdotes at his fingertips, built up over many years doing business across Africa and courtesy too of the research that his foundation carries out and the circle of friends that Mo now keeps. Combine this with his passion, his conviction and the respect that we accord any successful businessman (not bankers!) who take a risk and make a fortune (building a GSM business in Africa in the early 1990s was perceived as a big risk believe it or not; only Development Finance Institutions could be persuaded to share the risk), then you have a serious, straight-talking and effective spokesman for Africa. Africa needs more Mo Ibrahims.

Marcus Courage