Sunday Times E-Edition

Deputy president’s note: Esethu Mancotywa discusses how black leaders, raised under the values of Ubuntu, are

BMF deputy president ESETHU MANCOTYWA discusses how black leaders, raised under the values of Ubuntu, are struggling to acclimatise to corporate South Africa

DO WE THROW UP OUR HANDS IN RESIGNATION AND LEAVE CORPORATE SOUTH AFRICA IN ITS CURRENT FORM? THE ANSWER IS NOT ON OUR WATCH AND NEVER IN OUR NAME.

Leadership in corporate South Africa today is mainly made up of an eclectic mix of a few baby boomers (57–75 years old), a majority of Generation X-ers (42–57 years) and upcoming millennials (26–41). In an African context, I believe that this cohort of black professionals grew up in an age preceding the digital era (with millennials being right at the precipice), where life was simpler, people were more physically connected, and there was greater collaboration, solidarity and communality. There was more “Ubuntu”.

Ubuntu, meaning “humanness, I am because you are”, and believing that the humanness of one is intrinsically dependent on the humanness of others, was a way of life crafted around caring for each other and sharing what we had with our communities. It aimed at empowering all to be valued to reach their full potential. An Ubuntu style of leadership is based on collective solidarity and the greater good rather than individualism.

Ubuntu can play a vital role in how leaders can be sensitive to and manage our historical inequalities. The following principles of Ubuntu ought to be sacrosanct in a South African leadership context.

• A nonracial philosophy or value system according to which all people are regarded and treated as human beings.

• A philosophy of tolerance and compassion. • A philosophical concept that accepts humankind is one whole comprising various racial groups.

STRUGGLING IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

Black leaders in corporate South Africa who have mostly been raised in an “Ubuntu” context are leaving their jobs or job-hopping because they struggle to acclimatise. Corporate South Africa is a world where individual glory and material success are often pursued at all costs, and the emotional and psychological safety and wellbeing of others are scarcely considered. At its worst, it can break a human spirit and render the most accomplished black professional depressed, demoralised and burnt out. We thus move from company to company searching for a place where our duality can survive. The duality of being a high-performing, highly qualified and experienced black professional, while simultaneously having empathy, compassion and a desire to uplift people.

Let’s take Absa as an example where it appears that senior black executives have acquired a tendency for Houdini-style disappearing acts characterised by almost no media publicity and certainly no public announcements by the executives themselves. For instance, the silent exit of Nomkhitha Nqweni, then CEO of the Wealth Investment Management and Insurance Unit, in November 2019, and Bongiwe Gangeni, then deputy CEO of the Retail and Business Banking Division, in November 2021. What makes Bongiwe’s exit even more intriguing is that it came not long after the highly publicised “mutual separation” of Absa with its former CEO Daniel Mminele.

Our perception of these two high-profile senior female executive exits is that they stayed and fought long and hard enough to rise to senior levels, but did not see any further upward mobility within the group and so decided to leave.

Absa is only an example and a microcosm of the system called corporate South Africa. It is simply their propensity for highly public fallouts that renders them an easy example most can identify with.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Do we throw up our hands in resignation and leave corporate South Africa in its current form? The answer is not on our watch and never in our name. It is estimated that 70 per cent of the country’s economy is in the private sector; we therefore cannot hand over our economy to the minority when we are the majority.

There simply cannot be any form of sustainable political stability in a country where 80 per cent of the population does not have a meaningful stake in the ownership and management of their economy. And whether they acknowledge it or not, even the wealthiest one per cent of South African citizens need political and economic stability in this country.

And so, we encourage black executives to continue to fight for their rightful places in the corporate world. We need black captains of industry, and we will fight alongside you.

We encourage black entrepreneurs to continue to build businesses that can employ black professionals. We need black conglomerates, and we will build alongside you.

The BMF will continue to be the watchdog of anti transformative practices in all corners of this society. We will lobby, engage, challenge, advocate, support and defend.

THERE SIMPLY CANNOT BE ANY FORM OF SUSTAINABLE POLITICAL STABILITY IN A COUNTRY WHERE 80 PER CENT OF THE POPULATION DOES NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL STAKE IN THE OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF THEIR ECONOMY.

From The Editor

en-za

2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-26T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://times-e-editions.pressreader.com/article/283656828516748

Arena Holdings PTY