Being Strategic about Leadership for 2019 South Africa

The campaign for the 2019 general elections has begun. We may not know who the Presidential candidates will be, but make no mistake, the race is on. The local government elections results of Nelson Mandela Bay, Johannesburg and Tshwane infused new energy into our politics. There is no debate that the electorate wanted change whether by abstaining or changing their votes from 2011 elections.The people are no longer seduced by promises or blindly supporting historical loyalties. The results were a bold message that they had enough of not sharing the benefits of democracy in the country of their birth and of propping up politicians that they felt are not working for their best interests. They sent a strong wake- up call that they lack faith and trust in the leadership and its performance to date.

The ANC has always exalted collective leadership and discouraged creating demigods by constantly according the values and behaviours of its leaders to the wisdom and design of the collective. Leaders modestly subsumed their individual talents and contributions by emphasising the collective role of the people within and outside the organisation in inspiring their actions. Mandela was particularly worldly renowned for doing that. Thus it has been interesting to observe how over the last few years, and post local government elections more vehemently, that the bad and the ugly have been solely attributed to one individual, President Zuma. This is starting a culture of separating an individual’s actions and values from those of the organisation. This shift will certainly influence the voting patterns in 2019 as South Africans are now paying particular attention to the character, capabilities and values of individuals occupying the leadership roles, not merely choosing political parties. This brings to mind the quote by Gandhi, “One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”

With qualities of individuals that are leading the organisations taking centre stage as the parties themselves, it behoves political parties to ensure that the Presidential candidates they put forth in the general elections stand up to the scrutiny, engender confidence and find acceptance. Political leaders are usually a reflection of followers in terms of their aspirations and values. Thus keeping track of the sentiments of the electorate would enable parties to advance winning candidates. Some leadership tips that parties should consider when selecting candidates include:

Power redefinition: Leadership is about power. Power is the ability to cause or prevent an action and to have the discretion to act or not to act. Power is the ability to influence behaviour by inspiring people to do things that they would not otherwise do. Positional power has lost its hypnotic authority and respect until it is earned. Thus followers do not automatically accord the position the respect unless they believe it is deserved.

Integrity: A zero tolerance for unethical behaviour, both for yourself and your colleagues. Unquestioning loyalty and turning a blind eye to actions and behaviours that are not in line with the parties’ values must be nipped in the bud and not spin-doctored in the media.

Courage: Leadership is fundamentally about character. The technological innovations are shaping a more transparent world. Everyone with a cell-phone is now a communicator and story-teller. In this context, bearing your head in the sand like an ostrich will not do. Leaders need the courage, the willingness to do the right things and to make the right decisions even if it is difficult or unpopular. Fence sitting is not an option.

Diverse networks: Leaders must ensure that they develop and constantly maintain networks of diverse perspectives, skills, disciplines, experiences, nationalities, races and gender as a way of keeping their ears to the ground so that they are not isolated in an ivory tower where information is filtered by advisors and staff. In this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world having diverse views helps leaders to be more creative, more adaptable and more aware of what is happening so that they are able to anticipate and prevent crises before they happen. To stay on the pulse of the nation.

It is evident now that the people will not tolerate and blindly support parties until the offending leaders leave their positions in their own time when they are done with their agenda. With the attention now on the general elections in 2019, political parties must heed the winds of change and field appropriate candidates that are true to the values that they want to convey to retain the support of the electorate.