President Jacob Zuma has been South Africa’s most detached leader ever. The result of his hands-off style and often mysterious absences is political capriciousness, organisational chaos, and an inability on the part of the state to govern effectively. In his laissez faire administration ministers have been allowed to do much as they wish in setting […]
leadership
Posted inEquality
And what of African boys?
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams As a woman who was once an extremely frightened girl, I know full well and appreciate the benefits that come with feeling empowered in a largely male-dominated world. Much of the abuse I experienced as a child was at the hands of angry, damaged, broken, lurid men. Much of the anxiety […]
Posted inEquality, General
Imagine the Africa you desire
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams Being a leadership development practitioner has allowed me to engage numerous profiles of current and aspiring African leaders — some who are already on their leadership path, and some who are still grappling with the potential and possibilities of their leadership journey. Being an advocate of the “leading through your strengths” […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC has a leadership problem
Despite its parliamentary majority, 2014 was a year of reckoning for the ANC. Seemingly no longer in command of Parliament or public opinion, it emerged from the election bruised but not defeated. However, its performance lacks the swaggering bravado we have come to expect – it knows it has been wounded. Whether it can staunch […]
Posted inEquality
‘Africans are so simple,’ he said
By Rachel Nyaradzo Adams Not long ago I was in a lobby in a Ghana hotel and overheard a western-sounding white male utter the following assessment to a listener on his phone: “The people in Africa are so simple, I can do whatever I like here. They never challenge me” (paraphrased). Stunned but not surprised […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Batho pele, we need servants not rulers
For many outside his country, he remains nondescript. For the people of Uruguay — their president embodies the calling of being a true civil servant. Colloquially, he is known as the world’s poorest president. An assessment of his lifestyle may just confirm that to be true. He, however, disputes that he is poor. Rather, he […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Start with the room you’re in, change that conversation’
By Suntosh R Pillay “We have too much faith in leadership. It lets us off the hook so we can say someone else messed up.” This was the warning of Rama Naidu, a panellist at the third annual Conversations for Change in Durban. An initiative of The Mandela Rhodes Community, it was held amid tense […]
Posted inEquality, News/Politics
Joyce Banda, neither saint nor sinner
Written with Lindiwe Makhunga* The defeat of incumbent Joyce Banda in Malawi’s recent and controversial presidential elections, raises some uncomfortable but necessary questions about what constitutes collective expectations of women’s formal leadership in sub-Saharan Africa. On Saturday, Peter Mutharika of Malawi’s Democratic Progressive Party emerged as the winner with 36.4% of the vote, Lazarus Chakwera […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is it time for the DA to ditch Helen Zille?
What is the optimal length of tenure for a political leader? How to judge the moment when the adulation of your followers curdles, as it inevitably does, and turns to aversion? Do you jump, or do you wait to be pushed from your pedestal? These are questions that Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille will be […]
Posted inNews/Politics
We have no white leaders
It is frustration with so-called white leadership, or lack of it, that has made me ask: What has happened to men and women of integrity in our white community? I am talking about leaders of the calibre of Beyers Naude, Braam Fischer and Ruth First. It may just be ignorance on my part but I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Madiba and lessons in leadership
There is a common sentiment that Madiba’s passing enjoins us to pause and seriously reflect on the lessons of life that he has bequeathed to us and ask how seriously we have applied these lessons in our own lives. Indeed there could never be a better time to engage in this exercise and the themes […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Bribery, the real costs
By Anthea Paelo The other day the taxi I was riding in was stopped by a policeman. Not an unusual event in itself. Neither was the exchange of money that happened afterwards. What was strange, at least for me, was the policeman’s method of request. Upon stopping the taxi, he did not bother to pretend […]