Pretoria - South Africa is a mess and moving towards the kind of crisis facing Zimbabwe, because of a lack of leadership.
These are some of the observations of former vice-chancellor of the University of Kwazulu Natal and former Health Ombud, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, in his new book.
The book, which is Tshwane University of Technology Vice-Chancellor Professor Tinyiko Maluleke’s book of the month, is titled Leadership for Transformation since the Dawn of SA’s Democracy
Makgoba was speaking at a discussion event moderated by Maluleke at the TUT Pretoria campus where students gathered to take a leaf from the book yesterday.
Makgoba did not mince his words about the future and politics of the country, saying a lack of leadership was keeping the country in dire straits.
“We don’t have leadership that is equipped to run this country … and because we don’t have leadership, we have appointed poor teams … Look at this bloated Cabinet of people who don’t know what they are doing. So how do you expect the fortunes of the country to change?” Asked Makgoba.
The book incorporates observations and reflections of the professor’s experience of democracy in the 29 years since his return to South Africa from exile in the United Kingdom.
“This country is in a mess. Everybody who is informed will tell you that we are in the worst mess that we have ever been … Everything is going down. Things are regressing.
“The infrastructure, the water crisis, the electricity mess, crime, gender-based violence. How do you have a country where a standard two student makes the whole security cluster run around,” he said.
He was referring to the case of Thabo Bester who faked his own death to escape from a maximum prison in the Free State.
Having taken 23 years to research and finally put ink on paper, Makgoba has based the book on three themes from his journey which he described as an “odyssey”, about how politics and the media had influenced the project of transformation; the issue of national leadership and, what it takes to be a national leader who takes the transformation project forward.
He said writing the book came with its own plethora of challenges.
“It took me 23 years to write this book. So I have been making notes and doing my research and references. The book has closer to about 145 references and notes in it which is a lot of work to look into and to evaluate. That was the first challenge, the second challenge was how to put the themes because they are all separate.
“So you had these different themes that you had to find a thread to put them together as a single theme … that’s why there are three words that capture my story. Leadership, transformation and cabinets,” he said.
Makgoba who is known for ruffling feathers and kicking up dust in the political arena, says that was not his intention in writing the book.
“I’ve just made my observations in the book, cold as they are. And I let everybody read the book to make their own interpretation. But I’m not responsible for how they interpret my book … And I’m not going to defend how they interpret the book,” he said.
He urged citizens of the country to read and reflect on the book.
“Read, reflect and engage the issues I have raised in the book because they are very important for the future development of this country, and the deepening of our democracy,” he said.
Pretoria News