Allowing nepotism practices through family, friends and those least qualified to occupy leadership positions is tantamount to stealing Africa’s future from its young generation.

The liberation movement of the 1960s has not succeeded in addressing nepotism successfully as we see today that the post-colonial project has failed to resolve many socio-economic issues.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently raised eyebrows – and elicited no shortage of criticism – when he appointed his son, David Mnangagwa, as deputy finance minister. What further irked opposition parties was the appointment of his nephew Tongai Mnangagwa as deputy tourism minister, with a number of claims that neither possess the necessary skills or experience for their respective positions.

In 2020, President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, appointed his son Félix Tshilombo Tshisekedi as the head of the state-owned mining company, Gécamines. In Equatorial Guinea, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have long been accused of nepotistic practices, and the same can be said of Cameroon President Paul Biya. These are not isolated cases, but a trend throughout the continent. South Africa is not exempt from this, with nepotism rearing its ugly head from the root to the top of the public sector tree.

According to Prof Kedibone Phago, director of the North-West University (NWU) in South Africa’s School for Government Studies, Africa’s needs to buck this trend, and it needs to do so with haste.

“Allowing nepotism practices through family, friends and those least qualified to occupy leadership positions is tantamount to stealing Africa’s future from its young generation. This is because if resources are not properly managed to benefit Africans, but are only used to serve the interests of small political elite groups, the trap of a vicious cycle would remain intact and perpetual.”