Programme Director, Makosandile Mpumzi
Vice Chancellor, University of Fort Hare, Dr Mvuyo Tom
Resident Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ms Renate Tenbusch
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am truly grateful for the opportunity to engage with future leaders of this country and congratulate the University of Fort Hare for such an important initiative to invest in young leaders. This university is known for having produced some of the finest leaders to come from this continent and it is only fitting that it should embark on an initiative such as this one to shape future leaders.
Leadership is a subject about which many views are held and many books have been written. It is also practiced everyday by people in all spheres of life including, politics, business, sports, the arts, other professions and in communities throughout the length and dradth of our country. It is important to recognise that leadership is not only exercised in politics and by politicians, such a view would ignore the monumental contribution of leaders in other sectors and were this view to be accepted without question society would be poorer for it.
There are men and women who at a very young age forced themselves into history books through their acts of courage, fuelled by the simple and strict adherence to their beliefs in a better and more just future for their fellow citizens. There is an important lesson in this; those who aspire to be leaders should not take up a leadership role in order to be famous or rich, instead they should do it out of a deep conviction in what is right, whatever that may be.
From the many leaders we know, including those who have passed on, there are a few lessons we can learn from their lives about leadership. This is important because leadership has been exercised many generations before us by exemplary leaders as well as those we should not seek to emulate.
The likes of Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede, OR Tambo and Walter Sisulu among others, were incredibly young when they formed the ANC Youth League in 1944. Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was equally young when he paid the ultimate price for our freedom; so were the hundreds of young women and men who perished on that fateful day of 16 June 1976.
Young people in our country continue to demonstrate leadership in many areas. In the last quarter of 2015 we again witnessed the leadership of young people in bringing to the attention of all in society the struggles they continue to face in institutions of higher learning and used the issue of fees to illustrate the point in a tangible manner.
Let me illustrate the leadership of young people in business by telling a story of a young Yusuf Randera-Rees who is co-founder and chief executive officer of the Awethu Project. This is one of the most innovative SMME investment companies in South Africa. Awethu was awarded seed funding from Discovery Holdings, and from the South African Treasury’s Jobs Fund. Since inception the project has grown into an institution, employing over 50 people, incubating over 500 entrepreneurs, creating more than 400 jobs and literally changing thousands of lives in the process.
He left his job as a derivatives trader on Wall Street when he realised that our country is profoundly under-utilising our entrepreneurial potential. To address this, he designed a new model that would enable people to realise their potential and promote positive social and economic impact. He initially worked on a micro scale, using his time and savings to partner with talented informal sector entrepreneurs and helping them to grow their businesses. Over time, what started as a part-time initiative is now an organisation that is changing the lives of thousands of young people.
What is common about Mr Randera-Rees and the political leaders I referred to earlier is that they were incredibly young when they undertook the actions that made them the famous figures that they became. They did not seek fame; they were ordinary folk driven by a very strong belief in the need to make a difference.
Let me highlight a few leadership lessons.
First, leaders must have a very clear vision of what they want to achieve or a problem they want to solve. Leaders who have a clear vision are able to persuade others to buy into their vision. If you are a business person, some of the people whose support you may need to enlist along the way are financiers, investors, and staff in your business. These people would be required to invest their hard-earned cash and time and will only do so if they are sure of what they are invited to commit to.
We know of revolutionary leaders who led the anticolonial struggles across the African continent, Asia and Latin America as well as civil right leaders in the United States, they were very clear of what they wanted. The leaders of our struggle against colonial rule and apartheid in our country were very clear of the type of society they wanted to establish, this was set out in various documents, the African Claims, Freedom Charter and upon the attain of freedom, it was concretised in the Constitution.
The second lesson is that leadership is a risky business and leaders must be willing to take risks on ideas that are not very obvious to other people. In order to ensure that the idea they believe in is realised they must be prepared to make sacrifices. The type of sacrifices range from sacrificing family time, one’s own freedom as was the case with many of our leaders who spent time in prison or in exile as well as one’s safety. Many paid the ultimate price for what they believed in.
In business, many entrepreneurs will tell you of the difficult times they had to endure when they went for months without any income, while they worked hard, having mortgaged their houses. There is always a risk that you may lose everything as a leader.
The third lesson is that great leaders have a degree of idealism without being naïve; they are optimistic about success which enables them to persevere even when success seems impossible; they are passionate about what they believe in and are determined to achieve their goals. In other words, if there is no idea that you want to see become real; and if there is no idea that you are prepared to give up everything for, then you are not ready to be a leader.
Madiba demonstrated tremendous courage and determination in the famous speech from the dock in April 1964 when he said:
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Madiba was facing a hostile judge who had the power to send him to the gallows but such was his conviction that he risked making the statement that he was prepared to die for his beliefs.
The fourth lesson for me is that leadership must be grounded in a set of values without which it degenerates into despotism. History books are replete with examples of people who had the ability to mobilise and persuade others to their point of view but who did not value human life and therefore did not mind worry whether innocent lives were lost as long as they achieved what they wanted; people who did not respect human dignity; people who did not believe in equality between races and gender. These are not leaders. Unless a leader is grounded in deep values, they may do well for some time but after a while they will get off the tracks and not return.
The fifth lesson for me is that leaders lose credibility if they are found to have put their own needs ahead of those of their followers or above the course for which they are fighting. Such leaders are likely to be found with their fingers in the cookie jar. Leaders therefore must be people of integrity and must be honest. When a leader asks followers, staff and congregants to make sacrifices that they are not prepared to make, that leader is dishonest and is without integrity.
The sixth lesson is that leaders should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and be able to leverage the strength of others in order to ensure the success of the project in which they are engaged. Leaders with this kind of awareness are able to associate themselves with people who complement them and help them succeed without being easily derailed. I should add that leaders who maintain a close connection with the people they lead are less likely to be led astray. When leaders allow a gap to develop between them and those who are in the same struggle or project, middle-men take advantage of the gap and feed them with ideas that are calculated to weaken them.
In order for men and women to reach great heights they need to persevere despite the obstacles. The lesson is that it is important to believe in what you do and to face disappointments without giving up. Whether in sport, literature or photography, it takes time to master the art and become a top achiever, a leader. Talent alone is not enough, you have to practice and refine your skill over time.
Whether we go back in history, or study the lives of contemporary leaders across sectors, we will find that:
v Great leaders put the lives and interests of others above their own.
v Leadership requires sacrifice, commitment and conviction hence many hours and hard work.
v Being a good leader is not the same as being rich and famous, in fact those who became great leaders may have become famous along the way but that was not their intention.
v Many great leaders reached the heights they attained because they were very hard on themselves and did not expect others to do what they were not prepared to do themselves.
v They responded to the challenges of their time, in other words they sought to solve problems.
v Their passion started at a very young age, and got refined along the way with many hours of practice and exertion.
In conclusion, the world is crying out for leadership across sectors. As young people you have the energy, and time to apply yourselves to the challenges facing our country and the world and come up with solutions.
As Frantz Fanon said:
“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.”
What is your mission? Will you fulfil it or betray it?
I thank you.
