Malawi legend Mary Waya believes the behaviour of some male coaches in African netball remains the “biggest challenge” for female players.
Former World Cup star Waya said women are pressured into relationships in the hope of securing selection.
The 55-year-old claimed female players are made to feel “insecure” by coaches.
“Most African teams have male coaches, so that’s the biggest challenge,” Waya told the Africa Daily podcast, saying the issue has endured since she was a teenage player.
“You will find that when you go to the competition, to the changing rooms, you feel insecure because of these male coaches.”
The Queens achieved their best ever finish at the World Cup, finishing fifth in New Zealand in 2007.
But Waya believes different gender dynamics between male and female coaches and players can cause problems.
“If they are female coaches, you feel safe because you have got a ‘mother’ near you,” she added. “You know ‘I’m protected’.
“With male coaches, we always look at them as our ‘fathers’ and then they easily tell us, ‘I’m not your father – if you want to go to the national team, you have to be my [girlfriend], so that you can be at the top of the team’.”
Waya, who has been part of the sport for 25 years and acted as a commentator at the 2023 World Cup in South Africa, watched Malawi impress at the tournament as the sixth-best team in the world secured wins over Scotland, Barbados, Fiji and Tonga during the preliminary stages.
Despite her concerns around male coaches, the flag bearer for her country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi said netball remains hugely beneficial to players.
“It gives us mental and physical health,” she said. “It shows us that we can be empowered and do things with our own mind and strength.”
World Cup a ‘catalyst’ for equality
Nocawe Mafu, South Africa’s deputy minister of sports, arts and culture, said leaders had been “over the moon” at hosting the World Cup, but called for greater equality.
“The main target was about motivating young women, girls and children, and making sure that it actually helps to promote women’s sport in the country and Africa in general,” she said of the tournament.
“Women in sport, in general, are doing well but they are not recognised at the same level as men. In most cases, they are doing much better than men because they have to prove themselves to the world.
“It’s not supposed to be like that, but that’s the way it is. And therefore governments and federations cannot be faulted much in terms of concentrating on men who are not putting their best foot forward, compared to women. The world is still patriarchal in nature.”
More than 112,000 tickets were sold for the 2019 finals in England, with the number of people attending matches and watching or following the tournament surpassing six million, according to an impact evaluation carried out by UK Sport and Sheffield Hallam University.
Mafu said netball is played by 90% of women and young girls in South Africa and hopes the Cape Town edition will also prove inspiring.
“It becomes important that events you are hosting, like the World Cup, become a catalyst for making sure that the world recognises women are actually equal to men,” she said.
Netball World Cup 2023: Male coaches ‘biggest challenge’ to African netballers – Malawi’s Waya
Iyasu Habtamu
Name: Iyasu Habtamu
Education: Marketing Management
Company name: Archangel Advertising
Title: Founder
Founded in: 2022
What it do: Social Media Advertising
Hq: Addis Ababa
Number of Employees: 4
Startup capital: 50,000 birr
Current Capital:200,000 birr
Reason for starting the Business: The increase in the number of social media users
Biggest perk of ownership: Working hard
Biggest strength: Hard worker
Biggest challenge: Limited access to cash for financial growth
Plan: To build the best advertising company in Ethiopia
First career: Wood work
Most interested in meeting: Elon Musk
Most admired person: Michael Mesfin
Stress reducer: Spending time with family and friends
Favorite past time: Going to church
Favorite book: The art of war
Favorite destination: Barcelona, Spain
Favorite automobile: Range Rover
The (In) formal organization
Formally, many things we deal with in our daily life, are organized and regulated. We are formally employed or have registered our business. Working hours are set and we have a job description. Traffic is also regulated; there are traffic rules, and we need to get a driving license that proves we are capable of safely driving a vehicle through traffic. We know what is expected of us and we know what to do. Or so it seems.
Indeed, we all know the traffic rules but the way we behave in traffic here is a different story altogether. We honk to anybody in our way, meaning: get out of my way! We prefer to drive on the left side of the road; we therefor overtake on the right side; we speed; we don’t give way; we don’t stop at pedestrian crossings; we try and jump the red traffic light; we park where there is a “No Parking” sign; we try and repair our car in the middle of the road; name it. The formal rules simply don’t seem to apply. An informal set of traffic rules have emerged instead, and it seems most drivers know the informal rules better than the formal rules. Follow the formal rules and other drivers will throw a strange glance at you, meaning: “This is not the way we do things here!”
The same applies to organizations. Formally, things are regulated, and rules are followed. Informally though, things may be done differently. It is important to be aware of the reality of the informal organization within the formal organization and managers do well to identify the informal realities of the organization and even make use of it. Let us look at the formal and informal organization a bit closer.
A formal organization is the literal structure of the organization including its organization chart, hierarchical reporting relationships and work processes. The informal organization is the informal working relationships that develop in organizations and contribute strongly to the work culture. An organizational chart effectively outlines the structure of the formal organization. It shows the hierarchy from the CEO and top management to mid-level management to front-line employees. It also shows the horizontal interrelationships of various functional divisions or departments. The organizational chart provides a functional framework and is important in the workplace to establish stability, clarity in working relationships and reporting relationships between superiors and subordinates. Though top management often does not consider the reality of the informal organization when trying to establish culture, it does have a significant influence on workplace dynamics. Employees interact with each other at lunch, in the break room and in daily interactions in passing. These encounters either positively or negatively impact each employee’s sense of belonging within the workplace. If these encounters are generally negative, work morale is typically poor. Understanding the direct reporting relationships outlined in the organizational chart is often less important than knowing the influential people in your company. For ambitious employees, this may mean looking beyond immediate coworkers and managers and finding helpful mentors and internal coaches that want to help them succeed. Information communication networks are also a useful means of learning how the company works beyond just what is conveyed from top management.
Also, when front-line employees get promoted into management positions, they often forget the importance of balancing the formal structure and informal networks within organizations. Disciplined structure and clear reporting relationships are important. However, managers also have a lot to gain by remembering that informal networks are real and useful. Managers can often get the most insight on how employees feel and how departmental teams are functioning through informal, friendly conversations. While formal relationships are key to accomplishing organizational and departmental objectives, they are sometimes restrictive to open interactions.
Ton Haverkort
References:
“Bloomberg Businessweek” article “Navigating the ‘Informal’ Organization,” Marshall Goldsmith and Jon Katzenbach
What Is the Difference Between an Informal & Formal Organization?
by Neil Kokemuller, Demand Media
Africa in rebellion: Is a second anti-colonial liberation on the horizon?
After a series of coups, one country after another is moving to expel the traces of former empires
Africa is the cradle of human civilization and the planet’s richest continent in terms of natural resources. But according to Captain Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso, younger generations cannot understand why, despite its riches, Africa continues to be the poorest region of the world.
Across the continent we have seen uprisings and armed rebellions by anti-colonialist military leaders who have sought to reclaim their sovereignty from European imperialist powers, particularly France.
Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are just some of the countries that make up the collective of former French colonies in West Africa. They have long served as the key source of natural resources for France and other European powers. Niger supplies 15% of the uranium needed for French nuclear reactors. Burkina Faso is a key exporter of gold, while Guinea is a crucial entry and exit point for trade between France and its former colonies. Mali is another major exporter of gold, and has been a battleground where the government has fought various armed Islamist groups.
The map of West Africa began to change radically in 2021. Like dominos, pro-French regimes began to fall to military uprisings, starting with Mali in May 2021 and the coup led by Assimi Goita, who immediately demanded that the French military leave the country. The Central African Republic also expelled French troops in June 2021. This was followed by the military takeover in Guinea by Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire, in September 2021.
One year later, Traore became the world’s youngest president after seizing power in Burkina Faso, and he proceeded to expel the French military in January 2023. Finally, the military rebellion in Niger on July 26 led by Abdourahamane Tchiani, now assuming the presidency, also expelled French forces and banned the export of uranium to France.
The case of Burkina Faso and Traore is particularly interesting. During his recent trip to St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa summit, Traore gave a speech in which he called Russia part of the African family. He condemned the looting of the continent by European powers, and ended with the slogan “Homeland or death! We shall win!” – echoing the words of Ernesto Che Guevara and the national motto of Cuba.
Many have compared Traore to Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, who was also called the “African Che Guevara.” Sankara likewise expelled French forces, nationalized the country’s resources, and implemented socialist policies of redistribution, before being assassinated in a pro-French coup.
So, what are France and its partners likely to do now? The United States and Britain have already cut all aid to Niger and its allies in response to their ban on exports of uranium to France. On July 30, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a confederation that includes many of France’s former colonies, issued an ultimatum to Niger – Tchiani had one week to step down or a military intervention would begin with the backing of France. Nigeria, a key French ally in the region and the leader of ECOWAS, was chosen as the launchpad for a possible military intervention. However, the senate of Nigeria rejected the demand of the highly unpopular president, Bola Tinabu, to authorize military action against its neighbour. The ultimatum has since expired, and Niger proceeded to close its airspace to any commercial aircraft.
The presidents of Burkina Faso and Mali have responded that any military intervention in Niger will amount to a declaration of war against them. But the African states also have an ace up their sleeve – their long-time friendship with Russia.
Delegations from 49 African countries attended the recent Africa-Russia summit in St. Petersburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared support for Africa’s battle against neo-colonialism, stating that Moscow had written off a total of $23 billion in African debt and confirming that more than 50,000 tons of grain will be delivered free of charge to the continent.
The friendship between the peoples of Africa and Russia stretches back to the 18th century. The story of Abram Gannibal, the African general in the service of the Russian Army and the great-grandfather of the legendary poet Alexander Pushkin, is among the most fascinating parts of the lore of Russian-African relations. Brought as a child slave to Peter the Great from Constantinople, he was freed from servitude and educated at the tsar’s palace. He would rise not only to become a high-ranking military officer in the Russian Army, but also a tutor to a young Alexander Suvorov, the famed general who defeated the Ottoman Empire in two wars, among other accomplishments.
In the twilight of the scramble for Africa, only one nation stood independent among the sea of colonial conquests – Ethiopia. The attempted Italian invasion and subjugation ended in a catastrophic failure for the colonizers, with Russia providing crucial assistance to the Ethiopian nation fighting for its sovereignty and independence. The Soviet Union became the “armory of the oppressed” for many young nations of Africa seeking their independence from their colonial masters, as arms and ammunition produced in USSR were delivered to the many revolutionary and anti-colonial forces in the region, such as the MPLA in Angola, the ANC in South Africa, the PAIGC and its leader Amilcar Cabral in Guinea-Bissau, and many others. The memory of this solidarity is still fresh in the minds of many Africans, young and old.
The support and admiration for Russia echoes across the African continent, beyond the former colonies of France. During the mass rally of the Economic Freedom Fighters of South Africa, the group’s leader, Julius Malema, condemned the actions of France on the continent and proclaimed: “We are Putin, and Putin is us! And we will never support imperialism against President Putin!” A true sense of change seems to be sweeping across Africa, away from the old European colonizers and towards a new multipolar world.
By Denis Rogatyuk, a Russian-Australian journalist and writer based in Latin America, international director of El Ciudadano media platform, one of Chile’s largest independent media sources
