by Justin Foxton | Sep 27, 2014 | Leadership
As the winner rose to her feet and made her way through the crowd to the stage, a thousand plus people rose as one to their feet and roared their unfettered approval. The night belonged to her, and her fans – each and every one of us in that room – were not going to let her victory pass quickly or quietly.
As she made her way through the tables and up onto the inordinately long runway leading to the stage, the adulation of the crowd got louder and louder; “This is what being a rock star is all about,” I thought as waves of emotion swept the auditorium leaving many – the night’s very glamorous hostess included – wiping back the tears.
But this was not a music awards evening and this woman taking away the nights most prestigious award is not a rock star. She’s an advocate; very gracious, very dignified – but an advocate nonetheless. Now I ask you – what kind of advocate receives an ovation fit for a mega-star? What kind of advocate stirs the emotions of South Africans to such an extent?
Thuli Madonsela – accustomed to being in a very different kind of spotlight – stepped tentatively towards the microphone. You could tell that she hadn’t countenanced being named the overall winner of the South African of the Year awards: “South Africa never ceases to amaze me,” she quipped with characteristic humility.
24 hours before our Public Protector was named the South African of the Year, a dinner was held for all nominees of the competition across the various categories. It was a glitzy red carpet affair at the Inanda Club in Johannesburg. As the guest of honour made his way into the beautifully decorated ballroom a booming voice-over instructed all guests to rise to their feet. We did as we were told. A smattering of applause could be heard from a largely disinterested audience of several hundred of us. What guest of honour receives such a lukewarm welcome?
As President Jacob Zuma stepped confidently towards the microphone the audience continued to enjoy their starters. He spent most of his 15 or so minutes on stage eulogizing about the main sponsor of the South African of the Year Awards – 24 hour news channel ANN 7 referred to by Tokyo Sexwale as “Gupta TV”.
Two back-to-back gala events; arguably South Africa’s two most powerful citizens. One clear winner: hope.
When you meet Thuli Madonsela (I have long wanted to say that) you are immediately filled with a sense of hope; hope for the present and hope for the future of South Africa. This is because she exudes those human qualities so lacking in many of our leaders; humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness.
But the crowd – from the great and the good of South African society on the one hand to Cathy and I on the other – the crowd added to the sense of hope. For in stark contrast to our reaction to the guest of honour the previous evening, we were all on our feet whooping and cheering – not for our Public Protector per se – but for humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness. These values – embodied in Thuli Madonsela – were the real object of our praise and adulation. The wildly contrasting reactions to the two night’s honoured guests could – in my humble view – be seen as a bellwether for the future of South Africa.
Am I saying that Madonsela should be President? No. She would be wasted in that role. What I am saying is that the values she displays will likely be in some evidence in our next President. I know that because as a people we are celebrating – and celebrating wildly – those who model such values. Our reception of those who don’t is cool at best. It is a matter of time before we insist on such values being in evidence in our elected President.
Now the Eeyores amongst us will disagree – but hold your horses. The South African of the Year awards was made possible by our incumbent President’s besties the Gupta’s. Given her current spat with JZ over Nkandla you would have thought that Thuli Madonsela would be the very last person to win the Gupta’s talent contest wouldn’t you?
But here’s the thing – she won by public vote; the public insisted that humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness trump political power and influence. The public – ironically made aware of the competition and how to vote largely via Gupta TV and Gupta News aka The New Age – are those who will determine who runs this country going forward.
It should be unnervingly evident to the ANC that it must act quickly and decisively to give humility, integrity, wisdom, vulnerability and trustworthiness the No. 1 position in South Africa because if they don’t – someone else will. Either way, South Africa is the winner.
Hope Springs Eternal.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered
by Justin Foxton | Aug 9, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Leadership, Orphans & Vulnerable Children
On one level – the macro level – poverty would appear to be government’s problem to solve. Of course non-governmental organizations have a significant role to play in the alleviation of poverty, but generally speaking we look to government to solve this issue.
This is of course correct. Government needs to devise and implement strategies that will address widespread poverty in South Africa.
But on another level – the practical, micro level – poverty is a citizen issue. How can it not be when it is literally all around us? For the poor amongst us their lived reality is that life might be sustained by government – just – in the form of a grant, but it can only improve through our actions.
I hear a disillusioned groan. Is placing yet another coin into the outstretched hand of the pauper materially improving her quality of life? Is it altering the overall landscape of poverty? Is going through our wardrobe and donating our used clothes to the poor making any difference – or is it, perhaps, just assuaging our guilt – or worse, providing us with a convenient outlet for our old junk?
I would suggest that – whilst we need to continue to give in this way – we also need to become more creative in how we deal with poverty. We need to ask deeper questions of ourselves and those questions could yield transformative solutions.
Fundamentally the question needs to move beyond; “what do I have in my hands to give?” to the slightly more probing question of; “what do I have in my head and my heart to give?” This takes us beyond placing Band-Aids over suppurating wounds into the realm of achievable, long-term solutions. Let me give you a couple of examples to stir your soul:
Gareth Simpson – LeadSA’s Kwa-Zulu Natal youth hero of the year – was just 13 years old when he came up with an idea that would materially improve the lives of poor children. He was participating in a schools rugby tournament and was shocked by the fact that many of the boys had no rugby boots or – in some cases – jerseys or even rugby balls. His words are telling: “I knew I had to do something but wasn’t sure how to go about it.”
As an aside – how often have you witnessed a need, been moved to do something about it, but talked yourself out of it because you didn’t know where to begin? Gareth gives us a clue as to what to do. He spoke to his parents!
When you get an idea or an impulse to act that is bigger than you are – take it to people you trust; your parents, your spouse, your boss, your pastor – and discuss it with them. I have heard of so many case studies where those people have become partners in making the idea a reality. This was certainly the case for Gareth.
He began to collect second hand rugby boots from the kids at his school. He cleaned them, fixed them up and gave them to boys who needed them. His campaign – Rugby Recycled – was born and to date he has been responsible for providing more than 300 pairs of boots as well as jerseys, shorts and kit bags to schools in KwaMashu and Inanda. Gareth is not solving the macro issue of poverty but he is using what is in his head and his heart to improve the lives of poor kids. What an inspiration.
My second example is of a hero who probably won’t win any awards for what he is doing – but who should. Dr. Kesan Moodley. Dr. Moodley is a top Durban-based dentist. A couple of months back I approached him and asked if he would be willing to treat a youngster I mentor; a poor kid who in 20 years has never had the experience of visiting a dentist and was consequently in much pain. Dr. Moodley agreed without hesitation and over numerous sessions, sorted out the young man’s teeth free of charge.
This would have been a significant contribution in itself but Dr. Moodley went beyond that. We spoke of Bright Stars – the child and youth mentorship programme that The Peace Agency runs. Dr. Moodley offered to treat the kids on the programme who most urgently need dentistry. He sees a few each month – fitting them around his busy schedule, and the lives – not to mention smiles – of these children are being changed forever. Like Gareth, Dr. Moodley is using his passions and his talents to materially improve the quality of life of our nations most needy.
It is easy to become frustrated even exhausted by the grinding poverty that surrounds us. But we need look no further than what gets us out of bed in the morning – and offer that.
Chances are it is just what’s needed.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered
by Justin Foxton | Jun 30, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
The ‘Eureka’ moments of life – those moments when the clouds part and the sunshine streams through; those moments when we ‘get it’; perhaps even catch a glimpse of the eternal– are infrequent but always extraordinary. In these moments it feels like something falls into place deep within us; like we are found; like life suddenly has new clarity. Sound like I am smoking a little wacky as I write this? Would that it were that simple.
A little while ago a talk by Professor of Practical Theology Wynand de Kock provided me with just such a Eureka moment. It was simple – as such revelations often are – but it gave me great insight into some of my own personal dilemmas and more interestingly into some of the dilemmas of life here in South Africa. The talk was on the concept of ‘spaciousness’.
To summarise in my own terms a spacious person is one that lives with open hands and an open heart; someone who sees the best in others and the world around them; forgives easily; smiles often; someone who is filled with the breath of life; focuses outwards and upwards rather than inwards and downwards; someone who will choose to see the glass half full rather than half empty.
In contrast, an un-spacious person – or if you like a cramped or claustrophobic person – may live with one or more of the following ‘symptoms’: closed; metaphorically – perhaps even physically – out-of-breath; tight; worried; unforgiving; mean; negative; glass-half-empty.
Of course as one digests these too contrasting states one realises that there is something of them both in all of us. The point of the talk was to illustrate how spaciousness – even in the midst of adversity – is a wonderful, life-giving state of being; one that we should all strive for.
Throughout this profound talk I became painfully aware of some areas of personal un-spaciousness. It also caused me to question how spacious or un-spacious we are generally as a people; as a nation.
It is fairly straightforward to note the areas in which we are spacious. These were recently captured in a rich and emotive South African Tourism advertisement that has become an overnight on-line sensation. It tracks the journey of a young British couple touring our country. With exquisitely composed scenes of South African life the advert portrays – even causes the viewer to experience personally – the vast spaciousness of our magnificent land.
The climax of the advert – and an unusual twist in the tail for advertisements in this genre – causes the viewer to reflect on a less obvious spaciousness that epitomises South Africa as much as our wide open spaces. The final shot reveals that the young man walks with the aid of a white cane. He is blind and has fallen in love with the unseen beauty of our country; the feel of the place; the spaciousness.
And how many of us articulate this intangible aspect of South Africa when talking of our country; “South Africa just gets under your skin” or “South Africa is in ones blood.” This is not a patriotic statement. This is something far more poetic than that; it points to the fact that South Africa is an energized and energizing place; its soul is as wide; as spacious as the land itself. Of this we should be extremely proud as it clearly refers to the collective soul of its people.
But what is more challenging for us is that – as with me personally – there are areas in which we are not spacious as South Africans. Recently these areas have come to define our dialogue and how we act or react in different situations.
I see voter apathy as a symptom of un-spaciousness. Think back to the remarkable shots of long snaking queues that were the defining images of the 1994 elections. Did those not fill you with a sense of spaciousness?
Our conversations belie a lack of spaciousness. How often our experiences become defined by the negative: “How was your trip to The Berg?” Answer: “You won’t believe the potholes we had to navigate.”
Racism – which seems to rear its ugly head almost daily at the moment – is simply a lack of openness to others; a lack of spaciousness.
Our adoption rates – just over 1400 children adopted per annum – demonstrate a critical lack of spaciousness.
And some are being stifled over the political future of our country. Just the name Julius Malema often causes shortness of breath. We must stop this. Julius Malema is not a threat to our democracy. He is a necessary ingredient in a flavourful and diverse political potjie.
There are of course other areas we could highlight but the question is this; would we not rather live spacious lives in a spacious land?
I know I would.
Justin Foxton is founder of The Peace Agency.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Apr 14, 2014 | Citizen Participation, Leadership
“A leader is a dealer in hope.” Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is nearly 20 years since the dawn of democracy in South Africa and the most pressing question that I believe needs asking is not whether or not we have a good story to tell – we do. The more urgent question is do we have hope for the next 20 years?
You see in 1994 – the baked bean and kerosene lamp brigade aside – we were infused with almost supernatural levels of hope; we were buoyed up on a wave of international goodwill and our national pride was at fever pitch. We had the world’s most revered statesman at the helm and the world’s most beloved cleric making petition in the heavenlys on our behalf. We embodied hope.
Now hope is a very powerful thing. With hope anything is possible. Without it, nothing is possible. It can be argued that 1994 – and the ensuing 20 years – happened because we had hope that it would.
Psychologist Charles Snyder was one of the first developers of positive psychology and created his “hope theory” while on sabbatical from the University of Kansas. He observed people and interacted with them and through these observations came up with his own definition of hope: “Hope” he said; “is the sum of the mental willpower and waypower that you have for your goals.” In layman’s terms, hope is the fuel that fires the engine of change; it is the oomph that converts invisible dreams into seen realities.
And in Mandela we had one of the greatest “dealers in hope” of all history. He outlined the vision, gave us a road-map and then supercharged us with hope that it was infinitely doable. There was no chance of failure because the sum of our collective hope was driving us towards the vision that had been created for us; a united nation.
Over the next 20 years the story unfolded and it was indeed a good story; institutionalised racism was abolished along with its degrading and humiliating laws and practices; the disenfranchised majority had their right to vote restored to them; the poorest of the poor received financial aid from government; murder rates began to come down; millions were given access to houses, water and electricity; we staged arguably the finest football World Cup in history and praise be to the Almighty we won the Rugby World Cup – twice!
But as we did all this the oddest thing was happening; hope was waning. Cinderella- like it seemed that the magic was fading, midnight was fast approaching and soon we would be left with nothing but the memories of an all-too-short flirtation with a prince called democracy.
What caused this gradual loss of hope? Was it simply natural attrition; the fact that we simply couldn’t go on operating at those heady levels of post 1994 hope? Or was there something more to it?
I believe we could still be riding the crest of that wave were it not for two factors:
Back to the Cinderella story, the magic was always going to run out – it was only ever a matter of time. It was up to Cinderella to make her impression on the prince so that the magic was no longer an external force but an internal reality. She did that. We haven’t yet. The Madiba Magic as we called it – aka hope – has gone and we are left staring out into the midnight sky, waiting for another saviour to return with more magic. The thing we have done least well over the past 20 years is not economic, political or social. It is quite simply that we – you and I – have failed to keep hope alive. We have failed to become leaders in our own circles; leaders who deal in hope. Instead we have immersed ourselves in cynicism, self-pity, negativity and criticism, effectively killing the magic.
The second factor that has killed the magic is that our political leaders have not dealt in hope either. They have dealt in lies, deceit, cover-ups, drugs, spin – you name it – everything but hope. And what robs citizens of a democracy of hope more than anything else is when political leaders consistently failing to pay back what they have stolen, apologise for the wrongs they have committed and resign from office when they are found guilty. Nothing destroys faith in democracy quicker and more irrevocably than a lack of accountability.
Hope will be restored when two things happen: when we decide to put leaders who are dealers in hope into positions of power and when each of us makes an intentional choice to become a dealer in hope.
Then the magic will return.
This column is dedicated to the memory of 17 year old Anene Booysen: gang raped, mutilated and murdered.
by Justin Foxton | Apr 10, 2014 | Citizen Participation
This piece first appeared in The Mercury on 3 March 2014
On the surface of it, crime has no benefit to communities whatsoever. When areas go through what is commonly referred to as a crime spate all that seems to result is fear and trauma; there is surely nothing good about that.
Well yes and no. If communities respond smartly to crime – harness the fear if you like – very tangible benefits can result making the area a better place to live. Let me explain.
We have all witnessed scenes either first hand or in movies when – after a run of attacks on farms or homes in a particular area – residents get together in a local hall, vent their anger and discuss possible solutions.
United by a common bond of fear they join hands – perhaps for the first time – to safeguard their families and homes. Community is often the result of crime.
And I would go as far as to say that community is not only a potential upside of crime but that effective community is the opposite of crime; that where community works well crime rates will drop. That first meeting in a local hall is powerful simply because it is a first step towards community.
Of course the clever clogs out there will reason that if crime leads to community then South Africa should have the best communities this side of the Ho Chi Minh trail and that – by extension – we should have no crime at all. This is of course not the case because of what happens next:
When we get together in that hall for the first time two things happen: we kick off by recounting our crime horror stories. Then the soon-to-be-elected chairman of the soon-to-be-constituted board of trustees says we need to “fight back”/”wage war against the criminals” or words to that effect. This in itself suggests a battle in which there will be a winner – hopefully us – and a loser – hopefully the bad guys. It implies that the war will be quick, it will be easy – shock and awe style – and we will be free of crime within a matter of months. Everyone leaves feeling positive.
Because we think a ‘battle’ will win the day, we kick off our plans by employing soldiers. Our modern day soldiers are R4000 per month employees of security companies. Now I know from talking to dozens of these guys that they could not get work doing anything else and turned to security as an absolute last resort. Very few if any grew up with a dream to sit in a wooden hut all night long and possibly take a bullet for a rich family that does not even bother to find out their name.
So what happens is that the community gets excited about being safe and secure again and they pay money each month to fund a bunch of guards on the street; maybe a camera or two. This is usually the end of the good ideas because, well, what else is there other than security companies?
Then someone gets broken into. Why? Because the R4000 per month solider did not turn up for work or he was out patrolling at point B when a house near point A was hit. Then the community loses faith in the initiative and stops funding it and this is usually where the thing, sadly, derails.
Now guarding and cameras are part of the solution but they alone won’t solve an area’s crime problem. If all we do when crime brings us together is outsource our security to a security company then we have missed the big opportunity. A neighborhood’s employment of security guards and cameras is just a tangible, visible means by which to get everyone’s buy-in. Then the work of the community needs to begin.
And what does this work entail? Well if the opposite of crime is community, then security initiatives need to analyze what well-functioning, healthy communities look like and mirror that. Amongst other things, healthy, crime-free neighborhoods have:
- Neighbors who know each other and look out for one another
- Regular meetings to discuss community issues
- Good communication via a variety of digital media platforms
- Residents who work together and with local authorities to fix what is broken (lights, roads, drains, walls, signs)
- Residents who keep their area clean and tidy
- Residents who assist security companies and the police by being the eyes and ears on the street
- Residents who support their local police and report crime
- Residents who obey the law
If your area has a neighborhood security initiative, get involved and give of both your time and money. If not – consider starting one. They are integral to the creation of a safe, crime-free South Africa.
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.
