South Africa has successfully delivered the first Soccer World Cup on African soil, having received a 9 out of 10 from FIFA and a ‘thumbs-up’ from the rest of the world. Sadly, none of the African Countries expect Ghana, made any seriously challenging impact to the tournament that was dubbed the African tournament.
I started asking myself how soccer can be a success if the whole country is not? i.e. if the other spheres of the life of the nation are not in success mode. I asked myself whether we, as a country and a continent, are on a slow building process or are we actually slowly going nowhere?
It then occurred to me that both in South Africa and in the rest of the African continent something is missing. Something fundamental needs to happen and it must start to happen soon.
The change that needs to happen must affect all the spheres of life. I have tried to look at where SA and the rest of the Continent is in the other spheres of life e.g science, art, business (entrepreneurship), intellectual (public thinkers), education, innovation, etc, and sadly, I think we are nowhere near where we should be.
I know in SA we are busy with correcting the wrongs of the past, which has to be done, but that is not enough to make us a successful nation. Sadly I do not see a plan.
A part of me says the current leadership, in all the spheres mentioned above seem to have exhausted all their capabilities. I do not think they are capable of coming up with anything new. It’s time for substitution, to borrow a soccer term. Even a soccer player, considered good, when he seems to be running out of ideas, gets substituted in the interest of the success of the team.
We need fresh faces with new ideas, we need to experiment with new combinations. What we should set out to do, is to build a winning Nation and a wining Continent. It all boils down to leadership.
We need younger people, in fact we need to experiment with young people, with this generation before taking a back seat as mentors. We need a total reconstruction of the country and the Continent.
I would rather spend the next 20 years without success but on the road to a lasting legacy than be confronted by the reality 20 years from now that we still have not started the process.
Where do we start – I do not know. What I do know is that we need people:
1. With energy – it is going to take a lot of effort,
2. Who are ambitious,
3. Who are prepared to take risks and are not bound by the bondage of the past,
4. Who do not owe anybody anything,
5. Enthusiastic- hungry for success,
6. Patriotic – not noise makers who are only concerned about their enrichment,
7. Who really believe in the ability of all South Africans and Africans in general. The belief includes accepting the fact that we are at the bottom, is not God’s creation but our own doing and it can be resolved.
It is in taking into account of the above that I do not think the older generation can ever attempt to deal with the turnaround and the overhauling needed.
Soccer cannot succeed when the whole nation is failing. If we ever needed something done urgently, it is now.
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There are a number of interesting issues pointed out, but as a politically and socially active young person I would have to disagree with the somewhat cynical view he has taken on some of the issues at hand.
ReplyDeleteIn 16 years of democracy, in a country with a democracy as young as ours, we have achieved significant milestones, including greater political stability and greater economic freedom and a constitution that is regarded as the most progressive and impressive constitutions in the world. The country has abundant natural resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy and transport sectors, a stock exchange ranked among the top 20 in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting the efficient distribution of goods throughout the southern African region.
We are not, in fact, ‘at the bottom’, not only is South Africa itself an important emerging economy, it is also the gateway to other African markets. Over the years our policies have built up a rock-solid macroeconomic structure. Taxes have been cut, tariffs dropped, the fiscal deficit lowered, inflation curbed and exchange controls relaxed.
We can’t escape that we are a country of paradoxes – even as the country's economy is booming, the poor struggle for simple services. Much of this paradox can be better understood in the light of South Africa's history of a bloody past. But we need to be encouraged to believe in our country and to keep an open mind, there will always be room for change, but we have to take the first step. This positive outlook builds resilience, strengthens our resolve and is often a self-fulfilling prophecy
We may face huge challenges, but over the past decade, we have made significant progress – in many cases against all odds. History is an exercise of remembering – not forgetting. There is always a great need for awareness and reflection. We do not need a total reconstruction, possibly a review of what has worked and what has not, patting ourselves on the back for winning formulas and reviewing and possibly ‘substituting’ the formulas that haven’t. We need the current leadership to guide and direct our politics, we cannot simply axe them and start afresh, we all know what happens to those who don’t learn from history and the redundancy of re-inventing the wheel.
You are quite correct in saying South Africa needs a type of new leadership. Men and women, whose purpose is not for power and profits, but whose goals are orientated toward learning to use our diversity and background to bring about innovation, productivity and growth. Leaders with the capacity to ``hold the dream'' in the face of increasing turbulence and uncertainty to create alliances, partnerships and collaborative relationships based on trust, credibility, reliability and integrity. And the question is, do we have such? The simple answer is, yes, but there is not enough going on to nurture and groom these dynamic and vibrant young people toward our expected end.
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ReplyDeleteBy and large I do agree with you, however lets perpetuate your thinking and challenge you convictions in what you believe and write about, It’s all well and good to recognize this, however the true test of a leader is one who convinces his subjects not just what he wants them to do but a leader will also be who will also live by his words. Politicians are not measured by how well they served their nation (patriots if they can even be thought of as that) but by how many times they fooled a nation to be re-elected. To that end I cannot comment on their fate that relies on a fickle populous, business leaders on the other hand, well they success if more defined, tangible and measurable, so let’s focus on them
ReplyDeleteYour observations as they relate to leaders (political and economic) are not just insightful but could be truly profound if you were willing to live by them.
As with Muslims, I have queried the martyr phenomenon, is the martyr’s strength the ability to follow instructions or the convictions of his beliefs. Hence my question to you, are you willing, ready, and truly committed to pass the very same button that you ask the political leaders to pass to the next generations. As in politics so must we be in business, the next generation is screaming for that same opportunity to run the next leg of this race, collect the button from you and dare to dream bigger, realize that which the current leader have hoped for but not had the energy or resolution to effect.
Call me when you are ready to commit to your blog, I’m ready, I’m willing, but more importantly I’m able to rise ever higher and only because I will be standing on the wings of giants like YOU. I will reach the heights hoped for of blacks by blacks, most pertinently height expected of by simple old ME. Who am I you may ask, simple really I am THE FUTURE you speak of, the future you want to rise up. Help me to arise and shine, as I achieve my indulgent dreams I will achieve yours, placing the future in passionate, willing and capable hands.
LIVE WITH PASSION
This does provide for an interesting read as it raises some intriguing issues regarding our success as a nation and the continent as well as the capacity that our current leaders have to “carry us through”.
ReplyDeleteSuccess becomes a subjective issue where there isn’t a uniform definition of what we collectively perceive as a successful South Africa. There is a well represented number of people who believe that we have come a long way from a socially and economically oppressive governing system to one that embraces symbiotic living of all races, this signifies success to a degree. There are also those that evaluate success in terms of where we are now and where we (should) aspire to be as a nation.
I believe we definitely need to acknowledge the things that we have managed to get right and commend ourselves for those achievements, but it doesn’t necessarily end there. We can only become a winning nation if we aspire to do better and strive to continuously improve.
The stifling dilemma could be in allowing ourselves to recognise the bare minimum as the best we can do.
On the subject of leadership: I can support the idea of creating better opportunities for young and capable individuals to assume positions of leadership. The trick of-course is in the balance of fresh and unconventional thinking with experience and “wiser” thinking. That can be achieved if we collaborate the ancient with the new.
I agree with a lot of what has been mentioned in your piece of writing, but I do think it takes a heavily despaired tone. We are on a journey towards a destination, what is lacking is the coordinates of our destination.