AFTER MADIBA LEADERS ARE ORDINARY HUMANS

The ANC conference in Mangaung has brought to the fore the discussions around leadership for South Africa at this point in the history of working for a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.

If there is any lesson for South Africa from the days of Madiba's departure from the national political scenery, it was the fact that future leaders of our country will be more ordinary humans who may not be able to perform any new miracles and will have known and noticeable flaws.

The leaders may take actions that will satisfy the public and represent our country in many commendable ways, yet still as humans they may disappoint or embarrass us and even make us very angry.

Madiba will remain an icon that will take several generations to match. Whilst we must hold our leaders accountable and reject mediocrity, we must be reminded of the common responsibility of each and every South African in the project of creating a successful democracy and a prosperous and compassionate nation. It is that spirit of Madiba that will continue to lead us even as we falter because the vision of our forebears remains the guiding light that led our people even in the darkest hours of apartheid.

We have learnt that our nation is much greater than the sum total of our collective and individual successes and failures. The spirit of pioneers of our liberation struggle embodied in our constitution enjoins us to look far beyond the era of a particular leader or regime at the helm of the state, or even party in office at the time and even beyond the contribution of the entire generation of our times.

The greatness of our nation lies in our ability to continually promote and practice the best values that human civilization has developed and contribute our best efforts to harness available resources for the benefit of all, in pursuit of a better life for children of Africa.

While the role of leadership to society is important, it is critical to acknowledge that leadership is not the preserve of those who are elevated to office. Leadership is a function of the conditions through which mankind requires to navigate. Current challenges that need to be resolved to take our country to the next level of development may redefine the type of leadership that is necessary for such purpose.

It is important to also acknowledge that leadership may arise from the quarters least expected. Similarly, leadership is hardly ever a product of unanimity of views or consensus of all involved. This means that at any one time the necessary support that any leadership corps requires is always a reflection of compromises and an exercise in tolerance.

Though it is always important for society to submit the best amongst its best for leadership, many a time differing subjective and objective conditions makes unanimity improbable. Democracy is only the best form of managing political and social systems. This is not necessarily because it is fool proof but because it creates the basis for patience, acceptance and tolerance.

The impact of each leader is as important as the performance of the collective team with which they serve. A leader who understands his or her strength and limitations is as huge an asset as her or his ability to identify men and women of expertise and capacity and create conditions for them to do their best for the country.

Some leaders will make mistakes and may sometimes arouse negative emotions amongst those who elected and believed in them. This does not necessarily mean they were wrong in electing them. Defining "the best leader" outside the tasks such a leader is expected to perform and the changing conditions, under which such leadership is exercised, may prove to be a challenging undertaking. Dynamism in society may render a "good leader" ineffective as much as discounting any leader may be premature and is not necessarily a guarantee for failure in leadership.

It will be the right of any citizen to criticise actions of any leaders when they believe it appropriate, as much as support them in their task of leading government or society. Our judgement of their performance must be based on the extent to which they exerted an honest effort to take us forward as a country. Their success will also depend on the extent to which, despite their weaknesses,  they were able to get support from society at large as well as the collective team of leadership that share the lofty ideals of their country. Ideally the leadership collective has a responsibility to unite around the prescripts of the constitution and the programme for advancement of the country.

They must use their strength to minimise each others' weaknesses and collectively score major achievements for the country. This thinking gets complicated by the fact that in many cases leaders receive support from those who are nearest to them yet those are the ones well placed to benefit from the failure of those in charge.

When the taste of authority becomes too sweet and the trappings of power too enjoyable, the usefulness of a public representative becomes seriously weakened. The consciences of those in leadership must be governed by the concerns of those they were elected to serve. They should lead with compassion and not by the enormity of the power they wield.

Therefore, all the excitement about leadership elections in the ANC conference in Mangaung in December needs to be carefully examined as there may be more than meets the eye. The main focus should be policies that will enable us to build a better society rather than which individuals will be elected in Mangaung.

Dr Zweli Mkhize is a member of the ANC NEC, KZN Provincial Chairperson, chair of the Education and Health subcommittee and Premier of KZN province.

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