The former Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, has the humbleness of his late struggle veteran father. When Sisulu worked in the private sector for Denel and later on Sasol, he never used his struggle credentials, political connections or surname to carve a glittering corporate position for himself.
I was personally sad when Max Sisulu, who holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Governance, was overlooked to succeed Flip Botha as the Denel CEO in March 2003.
It is my contention that he was deployed to Denel as part of succession planning and that he was given the impression that he would get the CEO position. During that time, the African National Congress (ANC) legitimately deployed capable and skilled people into some of its State Owned Enterprises to fast track transformation.
Denel, in particular, needed major transformation since it was still entrenched in the military ethos of the apartheid era. As Denel's Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Sisulu brought political clout and reportedly increased its order book substantially. It was then not fair to sideline him when Botha left.
Sisulu left Denel quietly and joined Sasol as a General Manager and a member of its Group Executive Committee. Again I was surprised that Sasol did not make him an Executive Director. But like a true Sisulu, Max never demanded position and status. I was glad when the ANC elected him as the Speaker of the National Assembly. It is a senior position which is equivalent to that of the Deputy President of the Republic.
Like a true son of Walter Sisulu and a disciplined cadre of the movement, Max is too humble to fight for positions despite his well earned and deserved credentials. If he was not a disciplined cadre he could easily have lobbied to become the Deputy President of the Republic under Zuma and possibly get the position. It is my contention that if Max was hungry enough, he would have snatched the Deputy Presidency position.
He comes from the ANC's ‘royal family' and is politically senior to everyone in the ANC's National Executive Top Six, except Zuma. In the whole of the ANC, he is politically the third most senior and second to Zuma and Pallo Jordan only. Due to their Knowledge in the Blood, Pallo Jordan and Max Sisulu would serve anywhere the movement deploys them. They would never lobby for positions or tenders.
Unfortunately, Sisulu's humbleness doesn't appear to be working for him and thus has recently been snubbed to be (re)appointed as a Speaker of the National Assembly or Cabinet Minister.
Walter Sisulu's selflessness rubbed off on his children and grandchildren. Max Sisulu's son, Shaka, has become a public intellectual of note, a published author and community worker. Shaka, who holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), sits on various Boards of Directors of non-profit organisations.
He is the co-founder of the Cheesekids for Humanity which focuses on assisting disadvantaged children. Shaka does not go after government tenders. He has extensive corporate experience and is an entrepreneur in his own right. His younger brother, Duma, attended classes of my Knowledge Management course in 2010 when he was studying towards the degree of Masters of Management in Public and Development Management at the University of the Witwatersrand.
The question is why Walter Susulu's children and grandchildren would work so hard when they could just dangle their ANC royal family status and surname and loot government coffers through tenderpreneurship? They will never do that because that is against the Knowledge in their Blood. The thing is, Knowledge in the Blood is not always bad if it is actually proper knowledge and is used appropriately.
I don't foresee Max Sisulu retiring soon; he will possibly take some non-executive directorships in corporate South Africa and non-profit organisations. It's just not in their blood for the Sisulus to retire. After the 1994 elections Walter Sisulu continued to frequent the ANC Head Offices in Johannesburg where he was a Deputy President despite the fact that he was 82 years old. I wish Max Sisulu well in his future endeavours.
Dagada is a Development Economist based at the Wits Business School. He is on Twitter: @Rabelani_Dagada
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