Call for new young leaders

Many say that the future of South Africa is doomed because of its weak political leadership. There are organisations and individuals though, that not only have hope, but are actually doing something proactive about the situation.

Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State, says, “Even to the most disinterested observer of South African society, it is abundantly clear that our country has a crisis of leadership”. He goes on to say that “there can be no social change without personal change. Our salvation will not lie with governmental leadership (which is increasingly a parasitic leadership) but with the profound leadership that each of us brings to our communities, our organisations and our country.”

There is a significant lack of young talent in our current political scene. This is not to say that there is no young talent in the country – there is no doubt that our universities are producing a new generation of leaders who are well-educated and equipped to deal with the issues at hand in our South Africa. Yet we find ourselves governed by people with little or no qualification and who show even less effective action when it is needed.

South Africa is producing an extremely high calibre of motivated graduates who are socially conscious citizens, progressive thinkers and have political aspirations for positive change – so why are we still backlogged with ersatz leaders who do not behave like those that set an example before them but rather keep society in a state of bewildered amusement? They behave like soap opera antagonists more than individuals with the task of running a country that has important issues that need to be tackled.

A young graduate who prefers to remain anonymous says that trying to get involved in the political leadership of our country is “a fool’s errand…there are too many people in the system that operate selfishly and for their own interests. It appears so corrupt that I don’t know what difference a few people like me would make”. Perhaps this is the general feeling, but there are some people and organisations who believe that they can make a difference.

2011 Mandela Rhodes scholar and Masters student in Integrated Development at Rhodes University, Jai Clifford-Holmes, believes that “there is leadership being shown at numerous points of SA society – however, the lower level leadership being shown is often lost under the glaring ineptitude of the grander ineptitude of political leadership at the higher level”.

Locally, for example, the DA’s Young Leaders Programme (YLP) is a leadership development program that is designed to give the skills, knowledge and confidence required for future leaders in the country. It is aimed at young South Africans who want (and have the potential) to change the landscape of politics in South Africa. Head of the DA, Helen Zille, states that “we can overcome our history and shape our future together”.

Another example is the Community of Nelson Mandela Rhodes Scholars (CMRS), which includes scholars from over 20 countries, from varied backgrounds. Mandela Rhodes scholars hold far-reaching and influential positions across the country, and despite the diversity of backgrounds in the group, members have similar interests and ambitions.

The WakeUp project and the One Young World project are just two examples of international projects that aim at developing, training and teaching new young leadership talent from around the world. We can see, through these, that in communities around the world young people are taking a stand against bad leadership, and there is no reason for this not to happen in our own country.

South Africa is, of course, unique in its political context, as well as in its economic disparity, which is why there is a strong need to move away from the ‘ivory tower’ syndrome in terms of education. Embracing community engagement, especially at University level, is, according to Clifford-Holmes, indicative of this need to move. It has the potential of restructuring education institutions towards being more “responsive to its surrounding community and the country at large, whilst hopefully not diminishing its role as the creator of new knowledge within society”.

A recent Time magazine article called ‘The New Greatest Generation’ discussed the recent trend of US veterans returning from deployment in the Middle East and taking on leadership roles in companies in the USA. With this in mind, what is pertinent to the South African situation is the question – who are the people that show initiative to take leadership roles in South Africa? It is young people, not coming out of a war, but rather coming to realise that they have the skills, the knowledge and the potential to do something.