HOW CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP AKES A DIFFERENCE
“Iam a product of conscious leadership. I'm here to testify to the impact conscious leadership has had in my life. I hold an MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate Business School. This was my first university qualification without ever having done an undergrad or having stepped foot in a university until a little over five years ago in 2017. A constellation of conscious leaders made this happen.
“I am increasingly conscious of the inequality that plagued South Africa In 1991, I lived in two worlds, staying as I did in Gugulethu while attending school in Pinelands. I was eight years old and the country was clouded with fear and a distinct aroma of tear gas. Yet, in anticipation of democracy, the apartheid government restructured the white education system. That year, Model C schools became the dream ticket black parents could buy for their children's future. Not many parents had the courage nor could they afford the fees at Model C schools.
“My father’s steady government job helped my parents with the loan they needed to take me to a better school. They had never seen a classroom beyond Standard 8 themselves, but they understood the value of participating in an exclusive education system. Out of 147 children that lived in my street in Gugulethu in 1991, three went to a Model C school. I was one of them. The other two were my older brother and sister.
“By 2018, none of the other 144 children, now adults, had a tertiary qualification. It is normal that my childhood friends do not have a matric and, those that marginally escaped the HIV pandemic, live at the back of their parent’s houses. My street is a cemetery of youthful aspirations. Conscious leaders, our country needs you more now than ever.”