Learning from Juju’s stint at the ANCYL

Courtesy of http://www.housemusicdaily.com 

My first encounter (through TV and the print media) with Julius Malema was when he was elected as the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President in April 2008. I was at the time working towards finalising my career as a postgraduate student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and my love for politics and current affairs was steadily growing. As I watched the ANCYL elective conference, and subsequent election of ‘Juju’, marred by delegate misconduct, I wondered whether South Africa was getting into an era of populism and ‘loose cannon’ kind of leadership by the ANCYL. It turns out that that is exactly what characterised his leadership. And it did not come as a surprise to me that last week, the mother body, ANC suspended him for 5 years and asked him to vacate his seat as President of the ANCYL with immediate effect, spurred (I think) by his utterance to organise opposition political parties to oust the ‘puppet’ government of Botswana (a diplomatic blunder that had implications on the bilateral relationship between South Africa and Botswana). He had been rubbing the wrong feathers for a long time and in fact, had it not been for the ongoing party divisions within the ANC, I believe that this decision would have been effected a long time ago, e.g. when he publicly proclaimed that he would kill for Zuma or when the ANC leadership started seeing that his racial connotations were clearly dividing the country or when he called that BBC journalist ‘a bloody agent.’  

I must say, in the beginning, I wondered why he would have been elected a President for the Youth League given his loose tongue, lack of tact, and lack of respect for elders (a characteristic that is deemed critical in African politics and culture). But as I continued to watch him in public space and read about former Youth League leaders, I realised that there was some degree of militancy, revolutionary talk and general lack of discipline that was associated with the ANCYL, historically, and perhaps these characteristics formed the nature of the ANCYL. Last night, I listened to Juju on Carte Blanche as he compared his leadership with that of Nelson Mandela in the same capacity a couple of decades ago, and to him referring to the fact that under the leadership of Mandela, the ANCYL was once upon a time called a group of terrorists. Now that Julius has been suspended (and probably thwarted his own political career), I thought I might share some of the lessons I have learnt from his style of leadership.

Before I do that, I must state that I am a strong believer of young leadership, and I think that with a continent where the majority of the population is young, it would be disastrous to continue having old guards that often lose touch with the ambitions of young people (and generally the population) on the ground in Africa. However, I do think that aspiring and current young leaders need to take some lessons from the leadership of Julius Malema if they are to lead in a manner that will truly change policies and the developmental path of this continent. We must:

• Realise that the developmental agenda of this continent lies in our hands but that without the wisdom of the old guard, we will not achieve much;
• Acknowledge the importance of and practice African values (respect, ubuntu, empathy) in leading others. Our followers must start to learn these values through the manner in which we conduct ourselves;
• Lead like we mean it. What are we trying to tell the poor when we march for their cause and the following day jet off to Mauritius for a weekend of luxury? And if we have to do this (and let’s face it, it is sometimes unavoidable) let’s do it in a sensitive manner that does not spit on the face of the poor that we claim to be fighting for;
• Equip ourselves for leadership positions. Let’s go to school and study leadership matters, diplomacy, how to conduct ourselves in public, public relations and all that jazz that is required for us to be successful leaders. And if we find ourselves in a leadership position without these skills, we should register, attend and complete training courses that will equip us with these. The Barack Obamas of this world did not become leaders overnight and without strategy, they prepared for it; and
• Surround ourselves with people that will enhance our leadership. I read an article on the Daily Maverick that outlined how Julius handpicked people to fill the positions of the ANCYL but without much thought regarding their merit to hold such positions. When the ship starts to sink, make sure you have a kitchen cabinet that can strategise quickly and rightly.

There is no doubt that the Julius Malema saga will continue to play in coming weeks and perhaps even years. And there is no doubt that this maybe the beginning of a very interesting political discourse in South Africa. And it may well be that Julius is not done and that indeed, he may still stand a chance as a future President of this country. But we as aspiring young leaders need to learn from his mistakes and make the right choices when we get into those leadership positions.