south africa

In South Africa it is taboo to refer to "problems". This is especially true if you are a representative of government.  "No, no, no Mr Interviewer ... I would not say it is a problem. Rather we are faced with a challenge."

People fear that they are in some way resigning themselves to the "un-solvability" of the problem if they utter the very word. Behind this fear lies a a fatalistic way of languaging the issue at hand. Instead, the rhetoric surrounding how we language a problem is pervaded by "challenges". The other perspective on this rhetoric is that by admitting that an issue is a problem, you somehow admit some form of culpability in relation to the problem. And so, referring to a "challenge" displaces the responsibility for not having already solved the problem.

Barely 12 hours after my last post the political and financial landscape of South Africa has transitioned from what seemed to be relative order, into the world of un-order. With 11 cabinet ministers resigning today, the relative peace surrounding Mbeki's departure was shattered in terms of social sentiment and financial market confidence.

This just goes to show that when one assumes you're operating in a world of order, perhaps an assumption of extreme simple order, how easily one falls into extreme un-order, also known as chaos. The Cynefin Framework illustrates this poignantly when one considers how closely the domians of simple order and chaotic order are positioned.

The question now is how the ANC will try to assert order in the wake of these shenanigans.

Note the red lines illustrated below ...