Duty, Diligence and Disasters: Detailing Everyday Practices of Malawian Civil Servants in the Climate Crisis

Tanja D. Hendriks

Journal of Southern African Studies, 2024, vol. 50, issue 5, 763-779

Abstract: African civil servants are often portrayed as lacking capacity, deeply entangled in patronage networks, embroiled in all kinds of corruption and largely indifferent to their jobs and the plight of their fellow citizens. Perceptions of Malawian civil servants have been no exception to this stereotype and find fertile ground in numerous recent governance scandals, including the misuse of COVID-19 funds. In this paper, I suggest that this overarching focus on failure has obscured and trivialised important dimensions of civil servants’ work that are central to how they perform their duties. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork with civil servants working with the Department of Disaster Management Affairs in relief interventions after Cyclone Idai (2019) and Cyclone Freddy (2023), I detail the ways in which they understood their professional responsibilities and their efforts to balance different (moral) obligations they experienced in relation to their job. Taking seriously my interlocutors’ suggestion that one needs ‘a special heart’ in their line of work, I argue that they draw on a sense of duty to fulfil their duties. This becomes more visible during times of emergency response and disasters but is always present. I ultimately suggest that shifting the focus from failure to civil servants’ sense of duty allows for a more nuanced understanding of the Malawi state.Ogwira ntchito m’boma ku Africa amaonedwa ngati operewera pakuthekera pa kagwiridwe kawo ka ntchito, obisalira mchigulugulu pogwira ntchito, a chinyengo ndi katangale wosasimbika, komanso osalabadira za mavuto omwe mzika zinzawo zikukumana nawo. Kaganizidwe kotereka sikanasiye malo chifukwa umu ndi mmene Amalawi ambiri amaonera ogwira ntchito m’boma m’dziko lawo. Kaganizidweka kankirankira kutsatira chinam’balala cha kuonongedwa kwa ndalama zochokera ku misonkho ya Amalawi, kuphatikizapo zogwirira ntchito yothana ndi nthenda ya Covid-19. Koma khangale ziri chonchi, n’kuona kwanga, kutsindika kwambiri pa zofooka za ogwira ntchito m’boma kumachititsa kuti tisalabadire kwenikweni za zofunika ndi zoyenera pakagwiridwe ntchito ka anthuwa, zomwe zimaphimba ndi kunyazitsa kudzipereka kwawo pantchito yotamandika yomwe amagwira. Kupyolera m’kugwira ntchito kwanga kwa chaka chimodzi ndi theka pokhala pakati pa anthu a m’boma omwe ali pansi pa Nthambi Yoona Za Ngozi Zogwa Mwadzidzidzi (DoDMA), makamaka pomwe amapereka thandizo ku maanja okhudzidwa ndi namondwe wa Idai (yemwe adaomba m’chaka cha 2019) komanso Freddy (yemwe adaomba mu 2023), ndikulongosola tsatanetsatane wa m’mene ogwira ntchito m’boma amamvetsetsera kufunika kwa udindo wawo, kuchita zoyenera mu nthawi yake, komanso kudzikhuthula pakagwiridwe ka ntchito yawo. Kudzera m’kucheza kwanga ndi anthuwa, ine ndikutsindika kuti ogwira ntchito m’boma amadzipereka kwathunthu komanso ‘kuikapo mtima’ pakagwiridwe kawo ka ntchito, polingalira ndi kuzindikira za udindo omwe ali nawo. Kudzipereka kwawo kumaonekera kwambiri panthawi yomwe anthu aphinjika ndi ngozi zogwa mwadzidzidzi, koma nkuona kwanga, anthuwa ndi odzipereka nthawi zonse. Pachifukwachi, ndikuona kuti nkofunika kuti tisamakhazikike kwambiri kuloza zala anthu ogwira ntchito m’boma pa zolephera zomwe timaziona koma tidzilingalira komanso kuganizira za kudzikhuthula kwawo kwa thunthu pakagwiridwe ka ntchito yawo, kuti timvetsetse ndi kuzindikira bwino lomwe za m’mene ntchito za m’boma zimayendera.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2024.2412914

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