Nice piece of writting. On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 8:06 AM, VC <[email protected]> wrote:
> > [image: Business Day] > > > *Fixation on ‘leadership’ merely passes the buck* > ** ** > ** ** > *Steven Friedman, Business Day, Johannesburg, 5 September 2012* > ** ** > "TAKE me to your leader" was once a common line in jokes — usually spoken > by an alien arriving on earth. The alien could easily be mistaken for a > South African commentator.**** > ** ** > Our mainstream debate is obsessed by leadership. Most problems are blamed > on a "lack of leadership" and it is often assumed that if we had a new > political leader, we would be better off. This fixation is why, in the wake > of Marikana, "analysis" is used to show that the event was caused by, and > will have an effect on, the battle to choose Congress of South African > Trade Union (Cosatu) and African National Congress (ANC) leaders.**** > ** ** > This tendency to reduce everything to leadership misunderstands what is > happening in this society. And it substitutes a red herring — who will lead > us — for discussion of our challenges. It does not even produce a useful > debate on leadership, which was an issue at Marikana, but not in the way we > have been told.**** > ** ** > Claims that Marikana was a consequence of ANC leadership politics rests on > flimsy foundations. They assume that the key problem at Lonmin was a fight > between two unions. Because one, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), > supports Jacob Zuma, the challenge by the Association of Mineworkers and > Construction Union (Amcu), is said to be a plan to weaken Zuma. Or we are > told the NUM engineered a tough response to Amcu to protect Zuma — or > because it wants to clear its way to remove Cosatu general secretary > Zwelinzima Vavi.**** > ** ** > But with each day it becomes less clear that this is a battle between two > unions. The dispute looks more like a worker rebellion against union > leadership — a result of the relationship between the NUM and its members, > not of the relationship between Zuma and his opponents.**** > ** ** > Amcu was formed as a result of a 1998 dispute in the NUM, so it is not a > response to recent events in the ANC. Its leaders have never given any > indication of an interest in or connection to the ANC or Cosatu leadership > contests. If union rivalry is a factor, it has nothing to do with ANC or > Cosatu politics.**** > ** ** > Another piece of "evidence" — and another sign of the leadership obsession > — is the role of that perennial media favourite, Julius Malema, whose > presence is supposed to show that the rebellion against NUM leaders was > organised to weaken Zuma. But there is no evidence that Malema had heard of > Lonmin before the shootings, let alone that he had helped organise a > dispute there. He was imitating a tactic often used by Winnie > Madikizela-Mandela: hear about an event and pitch up to make > radical-sounding statements. It impresses the people to whom the statement > is made until they discover you have nothing to offer them. But it does not > show any influence on events.**** > ** ** > The claim that Marikana will influence Zuma’s re-election seems based on > leaks to the media by Zuma opponents, who say Marikana shows he should not > be president. But they did not think he should be president before the > tragedy — and his supporters have not rejected him because of Marikana. The > tragedy is doing in the ANC what it is doing in the country — confirming > people in views they already hold. No one in the ANC has changed their mind > in response to Marikana and so its effect will be neutral.**** > ** ** > The bigger question is why we fixate on leadership. Four years ago, our > president was intelligent and well-read. Today, his successor seems to > battle to read prepared speeches. But by the time the well-read president > stepped down, the lights were off and complaints about government > competence were growing. Today, government functions no worse than it did > then and in some ways may work better. This does not mean Zuma is a better > leader than Thabo Mbeki. It means that the identity of the president > matters far less than we think.**** > ** ** > During Zuma’s presidency, the ANC has been racked by factionalism. If he > is replaced by Kgalema Motlanthe, will that change? Probably not. As > intelligent and well-read as Motlanthe is, he would not have a strong > mandate for change and might struggle to fix the ANC’s problems as much as > Zuma has.**** > ** ** > Would Marikana have been prevented if we had another president? Probably > not. Will a change of leader ensure a similar tragedy will never happen? > Certainly not. The fixation on leadership blinds us to the reality that our > problems are too complicated to be caused by one person at the top, and to > the fact that too much stress on leadership passes the buck for solving our > problems.**** > ** ** > Leaders are important, but only if they are in touch with the society they > lead. A problem at Marikana was that union leaders were not in touch enough > with members, not that there was some miracle they could have performed but > did not. Leaders cannot conjure up new realities out of nothing. At best, > they can encourage change, which is already happening. Fixating on > leadership ignores our responsibility to ensure this change.**** > ** ** > > - Friedman is director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy > > ** ** > *From: > http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2012/09/05/fixation-on-leadership-merely-passes-the-buck > * > * * > * * > ** ** > > -- > You are subscribed. 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