Lack of ethical leaders costly
Doubts over finding remedies for ills that plague SA, says Business School head
NELSON Mandela University (NMU) Business School head Dr Randall Jonas believes the lack of ethical leadership in the role played by the Gupta brothers in state capture has given little hope for the future of business leadership in South Africa.
“It is virtually impossible to suppress the nagging apprehension about the ability of national leadership to find suitable remedies for the ills that plague South Africa,” he said.
Jonas, who was at the LeaderEx Summit in Johannesburg yesterday, said it was vital that business schools reconsidered the role they play in developing ethical leadership in the wake of unethical businesses practices.
He said the consequences of the Guptas’ influence on the South African economy and the effect on ordinary citizens were either ignored or underestimated.
The Gupta family are accused of capturing various government departments and state entities.
Linking the recent NMU name change to business values, Jonas said the new name evoked feelings associated with values of ethical governance by using the name of South Africa’s first democratically elected president and not one based on a geographically allocated name.
“This rebranding reminds us to ensure that we remain relevant to the needs of both business and society. It’s more than just trading on the global capital of the name – it’s living the values that Mandela embodied, such as courage, vision and integrity.
“By inculcating a business school’s curriculum with these kinds of values, it could go a long way towards influencing business behaviour in general.”
Earlier this year, the NMU Business School achieved international recognition after it was awarded The Association of MBA’s (AMBA) accreditation for its flagship MBA programme, among the top 200 programmes worldwide.
Graduate School director Professor Cecil Arnolds, who was responsible for rolling out the MBA programme, said the accreditation and the rebranding of the university had coincided perfectly.
“The iconic international status of the Mandela name has already generated interest from international scholars to collaborate with us in terms of research, teaching and engagement,” he said.