Restless leaders are dangerous
Today’s young leaders need nurturing, they need to be listened to and, above all, they need the support of the state and its leaders. Noni Mokati reports
THOSE in the know will tell you that leaders are born, not made. At South African schools and universities the phrases learner representative council (LRC), student representative council (SRC), prefect and head prefect, resonate with many.
Young people considered to be natural born leaders are usually given a platform by their peers to lead them and be their voice. These titles groom them for future leadership.
This very responsibility reminds me of Tsietsi Mashinini, Mbuyisa Makhubu, Khotso Seatlholo and many young leaders 41 years ago.
In a campaign seen as sheer defiance, these firebrand leaders did not wait to consult their elders but, instead, took to the streets and challenged authority when they could no longer keep quiet. That was 1976. And, yes, some may argue, times have changed.
But in the fast-paced era of 2017, the truth is that nothing has changed.
In fact, what the last five years have proved more than anything is the old adage: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The eagerness students showed back then to correct the system remains fixated in the hearts and minds of today’s young leaders.
As we celebrate yet another June 16, it is perhaps an opportune time to reflect on where our young leaders fall?
While we commemorate the bravery of leaders and the youth of yesteryear we, as a country, need to self-introspect and ask questions such as: Does the cause of our youth and their leaders only end in the streets through activism as seen in the #FeesMustFall movement?
We also need to probe further and establish if our young leaders are truly needed by a government that purports to be inclusive?
We ought to dig deep to find out if programmes geared at today’s youth are not just mere public relations exercises by those in power.
Also to see whether young leaders, at the behest of this country’s youth population, are able to cut through the thickness of the state’s bureaucracy and corruption while clamouring for resources and exhaustively fighting their own demons such as unemployment and poverty.
Student activist and one of the country’s emerging female leaders Busisiwe Seabe recently noted something profound.
Speaking at Soweto’s Morris Isaacson school recently, she boldly uttered the following words in Xhosa: Bazali nisilebele.
To loosely translate this in English: “Parents, you have forgotten us.”
Seabe, who was born in 1994 and is what some call a “born free”, pointed out that elders and leaders of today, while struggling to fix a country in crisis have, post-apartheid, forgotten to pass the “visionary baton” to the youth.
As a result, she said, there is now a void and a large disconnect between young people, young leaders, their elders and older leaders on what an ideal South Africa should be for this generation and those to come. The Azania, she says, they have fought so hard for.
While Seabe forms part of Generation Y – the same generation some have written off as undisciplined, too radical, lacking moral fibre and one that is only concerned about “turning up” – she and many others who share her ideals and have become the Game Changers of our time are no different from the Mashininis of the past.
Young leaders in 1976 left the classroom and, unfortunately, their cause ended on the streets.
But I ask yet again: do we let history repeat itself ? Do we let the mandate of today’s youth and leaders end on the streets or do they have a platform in a democratic and non-discriminatory South Africa to represent their peers and influence decision-making at government level?
I’m talking of a platform in which they will sit with the president of this country and discuss pertinent youth matters and not only be called to round-table discussions at the Union Buildings when the country burns and students have grown weary of empty promises.
It is certainly unfortunate that political youth organisations and student organisations such as the Congress of South African Students that were premised on being the voice of the youth find themselves sucked into the web of political turmoil instead of being proactive on student issues.
More disheartening is the lack of mentorship by the older leaders.
Instead of equipping these young ones, they seem to have grown tired and in the process have become self-absorbed.
Ask any young person in this country what they want and they will not hesitate to tell you that their primary concern is to live better lives, find meaningful jobs in order to actively contribute to this country’s economy.
As schools elect SRCs and LRCs, let us be mindful of today’s young leaders. Let us embrace them, support them and integrate them in all we do.
Let us remember that they were not just made but are born to lead and restless leaders are dangerous leaders.