SA needs compassion, competence
THE swift move by the Moja Love CEO Aubrey Tau in taking a giant leap to proffer a helping hand to media personality Somizi Mhlongo should be applauded by all progressive minds.
True leadership is the ability to know that progressive forgiveness is a process that is aimed at developing an individual holistically for the collective good of society.
Tau has been operating in a leadership mode by giving people who have been vilified by society a second chance. Bishop Makamu and Mzilikazi Wa Afrika are the quintessence of Tau’s ineffable forgiveness and visionary leadership.
According to Statistics SA, 84.2% of the South African population embraces the Christian faith but yet they find it increasingly difficult to forgive their fellow men as taught by the Messenger of God, Jesus Christ. He taught his followers that forgiveness has an infinite credit balance. When Nelson Mandela was asked about Gandhi’s derogatory references to black people, he replied that Gandhi should be forgiven for his prejudices and be judged by the context of his circumstances.
Organisations should take a leaf out of Tau’s book. For example, Marks Mafa Maponyane was an excellent soccer star during his heyday and an excellent soccer commentator who spoke impeccable English and had a proper diction that was beyond blemish, but we have lost that rare talent because we are an unforgiving society.
Recently Sello Maake kaNcube was removed from an organisation because of an historical gender-based violence (GBV) offence. Can we afford this “black drain” as society by not progressively forgiving these people? According to Floyd and Jacqueline Dickens black drain is a phenomenon whereby talented black people are forced by circumstances outside their control to prematurely opt out of organisations.
South Africa has promulgated pieces of workplace legislation with the view to levelling the work playing field but there are still human factors hurdles to be scaled.
When Professor Chris Barnard performed his first heart transplant, on Louis Washkansky, he was struck by the level of ridicule and rejection in the medical profession before the concept of the heart transplant was universally accepted.
Professional jealousy is something ubiquitous in our society. Somizi, Marks, Sello and many more are also the victims of professional jealousy.
During the dark days black talent was lost as a result of both racism and sexism, but currently black drain can be attributed to professional jealousy and whistle-blowing.
Sibongile Mngoma, the opera singer, argues that our society must move from a paradigm of deployment to a paradigm of employment. I fully agree with her because by expecting a “deployee” to behave like an employee, it is like harnessing a racehorse to a mule.
The black drain and poor service delivery will persist as long as we give unhinged “deployees” power over the employees who are qualified and competent. Pharoah’s dream graphically demonstrates how competent people are hamstrung at the workplace: “Seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came stood beside those on the riverbank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.”
Forgiving our fellows of their transgressions and employing competent people in organisations will push our society uphill.
The explosion of deployees in government will result in the implosion of the government.