by Justin Foxton | Apr 3, 2017 | Citizen Participation, Democracy, Leadership
As I write this I am sat – for the second time in 10-hours – in seat 22C on Fastjet’s flight from Dar es Salaam to a smallish Tanzanian town called Mbeya. Now you may or may not have heard of Fastjet – depending on whether you travel much in sub-Saharan Africa, but the thing with Fastjet is that it isn’t terribly fast. It also isn’t very communicative.
Having sat on the runway for quite some time watching the sunrise, we were all off-loaded because of a technical problem that apparently had something to do with the communication system between the pilot in the cock-pit and the crew in the cabin. This really was the last time anyone at Fastjet concerned themselves with accuracy of communication – for the next 10-hours.
For the length of the day, we all sat in the small and unedifying Dar airport. We drank cups of tea, ate airport food and talked endlessly about nothing much; as you do when you are killing an indefinite period of time.
The only thing anyone told us over the course of the day was that the problem would take 5 – 10 minutes to fix (this is when we were still on the plane) but this was adjusted to an hour to two hours when we were being off-loaded. Oh, and around 3 hours in, a tinny Tannoy announcement told us that the flight had been cancelled altogether and we should all go back to our homes and hotels. This was followed immediately by an announcement in Kiswahili proudly telling us that the plane was fixed up and we would board shortly. Both announcements were wrong.
We eventually scrummed our way back onto the plane, elbowing one another out of the way in a desperate attempt to beat the irate passengers of a later flight that had also been delayed. We eventually took off in the late afternoon.
“For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water,” recent Tweet from former DA leader, Helen Zille.
The previous day we had landed at Dar airport from OR Tambo. As a foreigner working in Tanzania you need a temporary Visa. This must be re-purchased every time you enter the country (regularly in my case) for 200USD. Acquiring this Visa can only be done on arrival at the Dar airport and it is damn nearly impossible to do so. In summary: it takes around 3 hours for 2 hapless immigration officials to handwrite – no computers, not even an ink stamp – over 100 Visas. 35 degrees Celsius. No chairs. No water. Again, no communication.
During both of these airport experiences it was clear that systems, procedures and an understanding of the critical importance of good communication, were non-existent. I would say it was organised chaos but there wasn’t any organisation at all. It was just chaos.
I travelled to Tanzania with Helen Zille’s now infamous Tweet about colonialism fresh in my mind. In fact, it occupied much of my thinking during all the many hours we spent in the Dar airport (and later, the extreme Dar traffic). I condemn what she said with contempt but more, with great sadness. I assume that Zille has travelled extensively to places like Dar es Salaam and other former- colony’s; that she has experienced life in countries that are years even decades behind non-former colony’s. So, the issue should not be whether she believes that colonialism had some good points. The issue is whether – over years of doing battle as the official opposition to the ANC – she has become so hardened, so cynical, so insensitive that she has lost all perspective and indeed – heart. One can only assume that she is so jaded that she has forgotten what it is that she has been fighting for; a free and equal society under-scored by a total loathing for all that is and was unjust, oppressive, violent and dehumanising. She has effectively made herself one of the utterly heartless and brain-dead: “Things were better under apartheid” brigade.
You do not even need to move out of Dar airport to get the picture; to know just how despicable, how crippling colonialism was. And the denial of this fact is alive and well far beyond Helen Zille; all-too-often I hear people opining about how Africa (they try to hide their bigotry by making it a continental indictment rather than a racist statement) lacks innovation or how uncreative Africa is or how backward.
And I don’t know why Singapore works well as Zille referenced; maybe because it’s so small you can cover its length on your morning jog. All I know after spending some time in Tanzania and indeed around other parts of Africa, is that colonialism’s negative impact on Africa and her people was beyond measure.
So, let us travel our continent, viewing its unequalled beauty and meeting its superb people. But let’s be forgiving of her faults and her failings because the big white boss gang-raped her and left her for dead.
It is a miracle that she has come as far as she has.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
His writing is dedicated to the memory of Anene Booysens and Emmanuel Josias Sithole
by Justin Foxton | Mar 3, 2017 | Citizen Participation, Democracy, Leadership
We have a national treasure in the National Treasury. There is little doubt that Pravin Gordhan now embodies this highest of unofficial titles; a title that we have applied to only a handful of men and women in the past few decades.
I realised just how fast this man was approaching national treasure status when I recently found myself with him on an SA Airlink flight to Nelspruit. Wearing a tweed cap to shield his shiny pate from the brutal Lowveld sun, he humbly agreed to having his photo taken with scores of fans whilst we waited on the runway to board our flight. Person after person – South Africans of all descriptions – took selfies with the Minister of Finance.
Bear in mind that this man has held the most loathed title in any society; that of “tax man”. Bear in mind that this man revolutionised tax collection in our country during his time at SARS. Bear in mind that for years he has lightened our pockets by increasing taxes; bear in mind that he has done this whilst the public purse has been simultaneously lightened by all those entrusted to hold its strings. Yet in-spite of all this financial lightening and burdening, there we were queuing to have our picture taken with him as if he were a rock star.
Those who know him well will tell you that he is a man of towering integrity. They will tell you that he is a South African of unbridled passion and commitment to the complete freedom of our people and the realisation of the full potential of our country. They will also tell you that he is fiendishly bright.
But these values – great as they are – do not make a national treasure. Ironically that title is bestowed only on the humble great. Pravin Gordhan is fast becoming one of our humble great and his last (we all hope it is not his last, but alas) budget presentation proved this. It was not the maths of the speech that solidified his place in our history. In fact, many people will be gnashing their teeth at the fact that we are paying vastly more for vastly less. It was these words:
“Fellow South Africans, if we make the right choices and do the right things we will achieve a just and fair society, founded on human dignity and equality. We will indeed transform our economy and country so that we all live in dignity, peace and well-being,”
If you did not know that I was quoting our newest national treasure (and you had never heard/heard of Jacob Zuma), you might say that I was quoting a/our President; these words have a presidential feel.
But he didn’t stop at general appeals for participation. He went on to issue a clarion call for us to participate with him in the task at hand: “This is the time for activists, workers, businesspersons, the clergy, professionals and citizens at large to actively engage in shaping the transformation agenda and ensuring that we do have a just and equitable society. Obstacles there will be many. Overcome them. Detractors abound. Disprove them. Negativity inspired by greed and selfishness will obstruct us. Defeat the bearers of this toxic ethic. South Africans, wherever you are own this process; defend your gains; demand accountability. Be an active agent for change. Umanyano Ngamandla (Unity is power.)”
These words coming from our very own “broken man presiding over a broken society” would be laughable. But coming from a national treasure they have the effect of creating hope; presenting a vision and outlining a strategy to get there.
If we allow them to, these words could galvanise us into action; to pay our taxes yes, but then to pay attention to what we as individual South Africans could do to take back our power. He is inviting us to join him in fighting for a future – one that he seems to be positive about; he is inviting us to stop pointing out what is wrong – we all know what is wrong; stop whining whilst Rome is burning. He has modelled the way for us (another enduring feature of people who wear the title of National Treasure). All we need do is act.
In the immediate term, this must include an uncompromising commitment to our non-negotiable values. Punch drunk from the ongoing battering of the forces of corruption and greed, we must stand firm and not give into the temptation of; “they are doing it so why can’t I?”. This statement – this attitude – is, I believe, the single biggest danger currently facing us as a society. It will take discipline to resist this temptation but if we don’t, our demise will be fast and frightening.
In the meantime, Pravin Gordhan will need all the support he can get as the vultures’ circle. So, if you bump into him on a flight or anywhere else, have a selfie with a national treasure and thank him.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
All my writing – regardless of topic – is dedicated to the memory of Anene Booysens and Emmanuel Josias Sithole. I do this to help keep their stories alive.
by Justin Foxton | Jan 17, 2017 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
An open letter to the executives of Ford South Africa regarding the handling of the Ford Kuga crisis:
Over the past months, several of your customers (allegedly around 50) have watched in horror as their vehicles exploded around or in front of them. Having spent hundreds of thousands of Rand on what for many would have been their dream motor vehicle, they have stood helplessly by as their car went up in smoke. One person – a 33-year-old man by the name of Reshall Jimmy – lost his life in a most horrendous and painful fashion; trapped in a burning Kuga.
Despite all of this, it has taken you well over a year to recall the effected model. Month after month you chose to argue the ‘technical details’ of the fires. You simply failed to take responsibility.
Like many, I am disgusted by your too-little-too-late response; even the tone you employed in announcing the recall was cold and unfeeling.
Your callous disregard for human beings; their lives, their families and their hard-earned money (apparently, Kuga owners cannot give them away), is utterly sickening. For a brand with your proud history you have let yourself down in the most spectacular fashion. Your response says only one thing: Ford cares more about the bottom-line than about the safety and well-being of their customers. I am no MBA, but even I can tell you that this is an appalling business strategy that will have disastrous consequences for sales of all models not just Kugas. By way of example, my wife and I have been toying with buying a Ford Eco Sport. Let me be clear: after your response to the Kuga crisis we will never buy a Ford of any description. Regardless of what “the facts” of the Kuga case turn out to be, you are – in our minds at least – a company that is untrustworthy and uncaring.
What should you have done in this case? Firstly, you should have taken a decision to operate with compassion above all else. How could you have done this? By putting yourselves in the skin of Reshall Jimmy’s family. You could have asked yourselves what it must feel like to be them or the 50 other effected parties or the approximately 6300 other Kuga owners. If you were battling with this, you could have employed a trained counsellor or facilitator to take you through a process whereby you would devise a business strategy based on a foundation of compassion. (Your business brains would love this bit: operate with compassion and you will save the floundering reputation of your business. This is because the “little people” love to see large corporations operating with compassion and humility.)
Secondly, you should have said you were sorry; immediately and then repeated it often. Sorry is a very powerful word that many people long to hear when they are suffering. Even if you later turn out to be “right”, you should have said sorry.
Then, you should have quickly recalled all the models in the affected category even if that meant that Ford suffered badly. Lives are more important than profits and jobs.
The thing that is so deeply troubling about your response is how eerily South African it is. Your cars explode so you immediately go on the defensive and argue that the customer must be wrong. No one quickly takes full and total responsibility, says sorry, recalls, resigns. By the same token, our country’s good health and reputation burns and our president argues that it’s the media’s fault or the courts fault or the Public Protectors fault or the work of foreign agents. The people speak at the polls and again, it is not his fault. It is never his fault; never the fault of his executive. No one loses their job or takes a salary cut. Business just carries on as usual.
Failed ministers continue to lead; failed rugby coaches continue to coach; failed teachers continue to teach; failed principals continue to lead schools. Exceptions to the rule – the Pallo Jordan’s and Brian Molefe’s of this world – are few and far between.
Take heed Ford South Africa; take heed of what happened to the ruling party in last year’s local government elections. This was caused by arrogance, selfishness and a lack of compassion for their customers – the citizens of South Africa. Your response to the Kuga crisis mirrors this and the same large-scale erosion of support will happen to you.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17-year-old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Dec 21, 2016 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
If you have read this column before you will know that I promote positive dialogue and peaceful change. However, practising what I preach is a daily effort and I fail more often than I succeed.
However, this is not my fault. This is the fault of a small handful of people who make thinking happy and peaceful thoughts virtually impossible. Now, I don’t condone violence of any kind. However, I totally relate if you have ever experienced an overwhelming urge to climb into your television (or newspaper) and slap the person inside.
This rather uncharitable-but-oh-so-delightful notion came up at a recent family Christmas lunch. We were talking about the events of this tumultuous year and the enormous personalities that shaped it and the conversation quickly degenerated into who had had the most “slap-able face” of 2016.
I kicked off proceedings by voicing my near pathological desire to slap SABC dictator Hlaudi Motsoeneng and this seemed to open the floodgates. My dear mother pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes and hissed “Zuma” under her breath, glancing about her to make sure he wasn’t sitting at the next table. My sister who lives in England, looked equally sour and tabled pro-Brexit UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
Now my wife Cathy can watch a Springbok rugby match only when Faf de Klerk is not in view. When he appears in shot she squeals and races out of the TV room only returning when he is gone. This makes for an exhausting 90 minutes for the whole family.
All this got me thinking how we could best channel this dark and delicious energy into something productive and even cathartic. And then it dawned on me: we need an International “Slap-able Face of the Year” competition. It can have real judges, a big glitzy Oscars-style event and we can get our very own Trevor Noah (not in the least bit slap-able) to host it. Maybe we can get big name sponsors (but not, I repeat not the infinitely slap-able Gupta brothers).
And so it began. From its humble beginnings at a curry restaurant in Tinley Manor, the International Slap-able Face of the Year competition now finds itself splashed all over the newspapers.
My on and offline call for nominations was heeded like a battle cry. People from all over the world climbed in. It seems that the world (well 20 or so friends and family) was just waiting for the opportunity to cyber-slap their (anti) heroes.
So, without further ado I am proud to announce the finalists of the inaugural edition of this major international competition. They are (in no order): Nigel Farage, Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Lewis Hamilton, Donald Trump, Julius Malema, Vladimir Putin, Faf de Klerk (just the 1 vote), Kanye West, Chris Brown, all the Kardashians, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, every woman who voted for Donal Trump, every person who voted for Brexit, Brock Turner, Boris Johnson, Bill Cosby and Sylvester Stallone (“because he always looks like he’s just been slapped!”).
Now interestingly, our very own President Jacob Zuma was only nominated twice. This is surprising because as far as straight slap-ability goes, I would have thought he would be top of the pops. Have we forgotten his TV “apology” after Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s (very unslap-able) judgement on Nkandla? Could we all – regardless of political affiliation – not have taken a little jog to Luthuli House and smacked him? I know I could have. My only explanation is that we don’t want to see him win anything ever again not even the Annual Slap-able Face of the Year Competition.
Now before you all explode from sheer anticipation I would like to announce the winners of the competition. Due to a lack of funds, Cathy and I are the only judges of this inaugural event and the venue for the gala event is our living room. This year we are toasting the winners (and of course those who did not win; please don’t try again next year) with a cup of tea but next year we are sure it will be Bollinger at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
In the International category of most Slap-able Face of the Year, in runner up position we have a tie between Vladimir Putin and Boris Johnson. And the overall winner is everyone’s favourite sentient naartjie (thank you to whoever coined this wondrous description) Donald Trump.
The runner up in the South African category is our very own EFF President Juju Malema. Seems that his svelte new image has done little to reduce his overall slap-ability. And the run-away winner, happy-to-have-you-entertaining-our kids-every-night (not), the SABC’s (or is he still?) Hlaudi Motsoeneng (and the crowd goes wild – literally).
We would like to launch a brand-new category for the most Slap-able Human Being in the Entire Galaxy as we know it and Possibly of all History. And the winner is? Faf de Klerk! Wooohooo!
Apologies for that interruption. I just popped out to make tea and Cathy hijacked my laptop. There will be no most slap-able face in the galaxy/history category next year. It’s just silly.)
So, there you have it. The end of a truly slap-able year.
Until next year, goodnight from the Foxtons living room.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17-year-old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Nov 10, 2016 | Citizen Participation, Crime & Corruption, Democracy, Leadership
“Just as the power of water often lies in the ability to bend around obstacles, sometimes the most powerful step you can take is a step back”.
Advocate Thuli Madonsela posted this quote on her Twitter timeline just hours after last Wednesday’s release of her State of Capture report. The quote was not direct and not credited to anyone which made it more of a note-to-self than anything.
I have always had a sense of this woman’s unique ability to intuit the metaphysical and spiritual requirements of the moment beyond the physical aspects of her work as our Public Protector. Without naming it as such, I believe this is why most of us esteem her as we do. We in turn intuit the extent of her impact rather than just see, hear or feel it. Madiba elicited the same response. The fact that her response to the release of this final labour-of-love was to step back, should confirm what we may have sensed all along; that she is as much a spiritual leader as anything else. This is not a badge of honour and certainly not a mantle that I would expect her to wear comfortably, but that very fact would serve as further proof of the hypothesis.
When I say spiritual leader, I am not using this term in any kind of religious way, although that is how she – and indeed perhaps you the reader – chooses to give expression to spirituality. I am talking about a leader who “leads from the deep” as it were; from beneath the heart level; from that level of intuition that exists in those that understand that to fall is to rise; to step back at the right time is the ultimate power-move. As my favourite Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr puts it, the power of “falling upward”. Is this servant leadership? Yes, in its very purest form.
Thuli Madonsela is a person who understands what it means to lead in such a way. How can we tell this? Because in her finest hour, she knew instinctively that her most powerful response would be to step out of the limelight and into the shadows. She knew that for her work to have the maximum power and impact, she was going to need to humble herself and – without taking so much as a bow – exit stage left. This would allow the necessary processes to unfold untainted and uncluttered by her presence. The job was done.
Now, had I been her, I would have booked interviews on every radio and TV station possible. I would have made sure that the whole dang world knew how great I was. I would have got someone to sky-write “Justin For President” but pretended it was just an adoring fan. I would have planned the release of my book – entitled “Just in Time – How I saved South Africa” – to coincide with the release of this report. There would have been mugs, pens, t-shirts – the works. Now come on admit it; you would have been tempted to do the same and shore up your fame and fortune for good.
But she chose to post a quote about stepping back. Why? Firstly, she knows that we are ultimately only ever as powerful as we are humble. That is the conundrum of falling upward. The extent to which our ego is in control determines our impact for good in the world. Alas, this does not mean that ego-driven human beings will not become powerful leaders. It simply means that their legacy of positive impact is an illusion that will ultimately fade and die.
Secondly, by leading from this place of humility she will have sensed that in the days and weeks following the release of this damning report, crooks and cronies would come crawling out from under their rocks to try and discredit her. By stepping back she would give them nothing new to say. They would simply have to follow legal processes; not something that criminals like to do.
And finally, she drew a line in the sand and said, this job is now done; this fight is fought. I can now rest and prepare for the next challenge – whatever that may be.
Of course, there is also an implicit challenge in Madonsela’s above quote. It is her time to step back but where does that leave us? It is most certainly not our time to step back. As our Public Protector, she left us her legacy as well as lessons and of course tools to step forward and continue the fight for our democracy. But the battle is far from over. As Vytjie Mentor said, we are the same now as we were before the report. What can we do to ensure that South Africa emerges victorious from this battle for her soul?
I do not have 3 steps you can follow here, but I do know that our role in the process will come to each of us as we seek to lead humbly where we are and as we understand that each of us must play our part – however big or small – in the healing of our nation.
This – more than any report – is the greatest legacy that Thuli Madonsela leaves us.
#leadlikethuli
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17-year-old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
by Justin Foxton | Oct 14, 2016 | Citizen Participation, Democracy, Leadership
“The peace movement can write very good protest letters, but they are not yet able to write a love letter.” Thich Nhat Hanh – Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, scholar and human rights activist
The recent story of Dr Lisa Augustine took me back to 2007. I remember it clearly; wandering round an old Natal Midlands farmstead with Cathy, chatting to the farmer’s wife about their business; a weaving operation. The subject turned to safety in the area and we were regaled with one of the most astonishing tales of humanity that I have ever heard.
Dr Augustine of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is also a weaver of sorts. That day she left the orthopaedic ward late. She was on her way home when she was set upon by attackers.
The weavers were weaving peacefully when a gang of hopped-up young men entered their workshop yelling, brandishing all manner of weaponry and demanding “all the money”. The weavers were simple folk but the young men would not listen to this and attacked the husband with an axe. He was wounded but not fatally. Again, the wife explained that there was no money but that they had some food and she would be glad to prepare them something if they were hungry. This disarmed the young men somewhat. Suddenly – with this offer of kindness in the form of food – there appeared to be more than one possible ending to this encounter.
The doctor’s attackers threatened to shoot her if she did not hand over her cell phone. In her exhausted state she did something that she later felt may have been unwise; she looked one of them in the eye and explained that she had been working hard all day at the hospital helping his community. It was probably her tone more than anything she said, but the man immediately changed his tune: “And suddenly the hostility vanished. He seemed to soften and his body language changed from being very aggressive. He apologised,” explained Dr Augustine who then gave him R40. The attackers left without hurting her.
The weavers and the Doctor said similar things about their attacks; that their attackers were probably just desperate. The question is, desperate for what? If we could answer this, then we would be a huge step closer to establishing a peaceful society. And we need to move beyond money, food, greed etc. These are only partial answers that trap us at the level of the material. We must be willing to venture into the darker spaces of human suffering. Until we go there, non-violence can only ever be a pipe-dream.
In 1967, Dr Martin Luther King Jr nominated the above quoted monk for the Nobel Peace Prize. The reason for this – as I see his work – is that he seems to provide us with the beginnings of an answer to this question – what are people so desperate for? He tells us that peace begins with each of us “being peace” as he calls it. We cannot fight for peace; we cannot create peace; we can only learn to “be peace.” How does this answer the question of what people are desperate for? Quite simply because hurt people hurt people. The only way to end the cycle of desperation that leads inevitably to violence is to be peace to people and we only do that by living lives that are – in themselves – a love letter to humanity and to the world at large; a constant cycle of healing and being healed. You see, people – all people whether poor or rich – are desperate for connection; for love and belonging.
After several hours of food and conversation, the weavers helped the young men to load their possessions into the family car. They were to lose a great deal but their lives would not be taken. However, just as things seemed to be working out for the best, it became evident that none of the youngsters could drive a car. This caused tempers to once again flare. The weavers then did the only logical thing they could think of under the circumstances; they taught one of the boys to drive. Like parents, they patiently explained the workings of the clutch and gears and it was not long before they stood atop their driveway and watched as their assailants drove their car and possessions off into the distance.
The boys were caught before they left the midlands. The weavers continue to weave and Doctor Augustine continues to help people get well The world continues, but with a little less blood spilt. This is simply because the weavers and Dr Augustine decided to be peace.
“The way you speak, the kind of understanding, the kind of language you use…. without being peace, we cannot do anything for peace. If we cannot smile, we cannot help other people to smile. If we are not peaceful, then we cannot contribute to the peace movement,” Thich Nhat Hanh.
Although this is radically counter-cultural – especially in western civilization – it will resonate deeply with us if we allow it. And the world will be a better place.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17-year-old Anene Booysens: gang raped, mutilated and murdered, and our Mozambican brother Emmanuel Josias Sithole: beaten and stabbed to death.
