Ambidexterity in public-service leadership: A case study of South Africa’s Government of National Unit

In his inaugural lecture, Prof Zwelinzima Ndevu explores how public-service officials and leaders, specifically in the context of South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU), can manage the demand for dichotomous capabilities by developing ambidexterity in leadership. There is a need to understand how public leaders can balance competing demands for radical and incremental change. The theory of ambidexterity provides insight into how the public service can manage the dilemmas of innovative capability development, while also exploiting existing skills within institutions to allow for flexibility and autonomy. Drawing on contemporary discussions relating to public leadership, the concept of ambidexterity, and the new form of leadership described as “ambidextrous”, Zwelinzima argues that the paradoxical pressures on the public sector demand leaders who are both politically and administratively skilled.

WATCH THE INAUGURAL LECTURE HERE

Short biography

Zwelinzima Ndevu is the current director of the School of Public Leadership (SPL) in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU). He is also the academic head of the BComHons in Public and Development Management. As part of the latter degree programme as well as the Diploma in Public Accountability and the MBA, he teaches modules on the management of institutional collaboration, leadership and change, as well as institutional conduct.

Zwelinzima’s expertise spans the fields of public leadership, human resource management with specialisation in performance management, as well as ethics, public participation, and local government. This has resulted in several published peer-reviewed book chapters, journal articles and national and international conference proceedings, as well as his appointment as an external examiner for master’s and doctoral dissertations at various universities in South Africa and abroad.

Other roles at SU more broadly include chairing the University’s Anti-Corruption Centre for Education and Research (ACCERUS) and leading the board of the Allan Gray Centre for Africa Entrepreneurship (AGCAE). Further afield, he has been appointed by the Minister of Higher Education as chair of the governance council at King Hintsa Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College. Zwelinzima is also the chair of the board of directors of the Inclusive Society Institute, which is dedicated to supporting and deepening multiparty democracy in South Africa. In addition, he serves on the national boards of the South African Association of Public Administration and Management as well as the Association of Southern African Schools and Departments of Public Administration and Management.

He is a leading expert in short-courses training and professional consultation, and regularly contributes to television and radio broadcasts as an expert analyst on public leadership and administration, governance and performance, local government, and political affairs. Zwelinzima is a supporter of interdisciplinary research, which has led to numerous capacity-building projects in South Africa and abroad.