SOE leadership leaves much to be desired

EMPLOYEES and society, in general, are crying out for an exceptional kind of leadership to be in control of our country’s state-owned entities. Are they expecting charismatic or character-based leadership?

This is a complex question, but I would think the latter represents the answer. It is therefore significant to first define what kind of leader represents an authentic leader. Authentic leaders are regarded as those whose actions are based on their convictions and values.

When what the leaders assert is consistent with what they believe, and their actions are consistent with both their talk and their beliefs, they act in accordance with their moral values and fundamental beliefs rather than to please an audience, to gain popularity or advance some personal or narrow political interest.

Carefully noting the above, this kind of leadership is required as in yesterday for our SOEs. This requires a new kind of leader. One who is going to put forward his ideas for the benefit of the broader community or society.

This equally compelled me to think about the key issues facing our SOEs. For instance, SAA has continued to suffer losses and has recently reported losses of R5 billion for each consecutive period.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme also recently reported a loss of R2 billion that was erroneously paid out to students. On top of that, Eskom is alleged to have wrongly paid R4 billion to a contractor, despite its notable financial problems.

This has taken me aback. When will they stop, and start handling the state money as their own. If it was your personal money, would you have merely paid such a substantial amount out of your pocket without noticing? If that is the case it leaves much to be desired.

The above has happened without any consequence management or the board taking responsibility.

This made me wish we enjoyed the type of leadership that would have said, yes, we are disheartened about our dismal performance and candidly admitted it has been mediocre.

I don’t think that would have made those leaders weak, but much stronger.

Additionally, this would have allowed them to reinvent themselves and, in return, the companies’ fortunes.

Furthermore, the need for authentic leadership was recently laid plain by a court decision, when the former chairperson (Miss Dudu Myeni) of SAA was declared a delinquent director.

For the courts to pronounce such raises many key questions regarding the calibre of leadership in the country’s SOEs.

For our state-owned companies to turn the tide, we require a new kind of responsible leadership, i.e. character-based and not charismatic leadership.