I was never gifted in singing or playing any musical instrument yet that never diminished my interest in listening to great music. Recently I was left speechless watching the Beijing Symphony Orchestra perform an orchestral piece by Georges Bizet, Farandole, with Heinz Walter Florin as the conductor.
It was flawless and I cannot fathom how the muted conductor pulled it all off. Orchestral are music is performed with a large group of instruments (woodwinds, brasses, violins, strings and percussions) perfected over intense rehearsals and training.
Skillful integration of talent and repertoire gives orchestras identity in terms of compositions, quality delivery and sustenance of fan base and appeal. Global trends too bear on the relevance and sustainability of this kind of musical genre. It is the responsibility of orchestral leadership to manage changes and continue to exalt the stature of the genre. Failure to do so can only lead to painful demise.
An orchestral performance of sorts took place on our shores recently when South African political parties launched their manifestos. Dance and euphoria spurred on party supporters as leaders dished out numerous promises. It was an orchestral performance of manifesto launching, with SA the centerpiece of renditions. It lacked the exuberance of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and deft craft of Heinz Walter Florin, the conductor.
While party leaders – the principal conductors – did their best to amplify the core aspects of their manifestos, there was dissonance of instrumentation and melodies. Orchestral ensembles are more than just musical entities; they demonstrate a well-planned and seamless integration of all parts of the orchestra. Party leaders failed to master the delicate balance between rhetorical promises and reality despite ample data offered by SA’s 27 years of democracy.
Listening to party leaders enunciate manifesto pillars felt like a recurring déjà vu moment. There was also self-praising about ineffectual gains made that never changed the “sickly” components of the system. Mikhail Gorbachev reminds us that “If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven’t done much today”. We seem not to have become wiser and still pontificate about past successes that hardly melt the giant national iceberg of challenges. It can’t be business as usual.
Like orchestral ensembles, parties must raise performance standards and obligations to increase societal influence and impact beyond manifesto rhetoric and marshmallow-like promises. Like orchestral players that must up their game to remain relevant and grow the devotion of supporters, parties too must institutionalise this critical aspect of managing chang.
Strengthening interactive engagement is the hallmark of polished orchestral ensemble renditions. Similarly, political parties too must invest in interactive engagement-building processes to leverage strategic partnerships that will deep democracy and advance socioeconomic development. Past experience has shown that SA is gradually warming up to coalition governance.
Like orchestral ensembles fusing the skill sets of different players to produce beautiful music, political parties too should carefully assess coalition partners to advance national imperatives. Change is a constant and disruptive factor in politics and governance and those entrusted with responsibility should be equal the task. Orchestration requires players steeped in the knowledge of the craft.
We expect party policy technocrats to display that sophistry in putting together manifestos. Expansive manifesto promises must be aligned to workable plans and skill sets to assure success. Assembling technically knowledgeable and competent teams to implement plans is critical. Re-framing strategic approaches to deal with these national challenges is necessary to circumvent repeating past mistakes.
The skills and personality of the orchestral conductor set the tone for the ensemble as a whole. Regrettably, the converse is also true. Similarly, when we entrust party or governance leadership to any individual we should think about a suite of skills and competencies.
Evaluation and monitoring are other key aspects of leadership accountability. It is an area that some manifestos do not appraise to engender public confidence. Organisations enter into performance agreements to assess performance. Regrettably, government entities seem to pay lip service to this important aspect of service delivery.
Party manifestos are crafted to entice and bolster support for promises as sweet as marshmallows. The euphoria of beautiful words and phrases has the effect of nudging potential voters to cast their votes. Yet, the rhetorical sweetness of manifesto sdoes not last forever, it’s a state of mind it’s a state of mind that shifts with narratives. Deciphering essence requires sharp minds and robust questioning.
Benjamin Zander reminds us: “The conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful.” Tod Machover also states: “Music…is one of the very best ways we have of showing who we really are.”
We expect party leaders too to display these qualities to embolden the essence of their party manifestos. When Letta Mbulu sang Not Yet Uhuru, it was a clarion call for total transformation and socioeconomic development and growth. Do the party manifestos on offer grant us uhuru?
• Monyooe is a Sowetan reader
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