‘Pen To Paper’ Edition

18 May 2025

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When A Leader Misses An Opportunity

We have all been there, I know that I certainly have: that moment when the stars align, the opportunity presents itself, it’s the right time and place for the leader to lead. And yet, when you speak, you realize that you missed a significant opportunity!

This is unashamedly how I feel about South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa’s off-the-cuff remarks about the first “planeload” of Afrikaner ‘refugees’ that left for the USA. At the largest gathering of farmers in South Africa (The NAMPO exhibition in Bothaville,) he called them “cowards running away from our problems”. For me, this felt like he’d given in to intellectually lazy labeling of the people that he leads, rather than seizing the opportunity and stepping into the moment to help us make sense of this.

Please don’t get me wrong – this is not about bashing our President. If you have ever had to lead during difficult times when your people are disgruntled, when they feel disenfranchised and not seen, perhaps you too have been tempted to revert to name-calling (as an attempt to “other”, or shame them) or you might even have called on them to be loyal, to dig into some deep pool of unrealistic patriotism.

Like many of my South African friends and colleagues, I have had some uncomfortable conversations around this new ‘Groot Trek’, (or as some have jokingly labeled it, ‘The Groot Tsek’)! This is an emotionally loaded topic, but let me try a rational take on it which is still clearly subjective.

As a white Afrikaner myself, I was made painfully aware of the dismissive effect of stereotyping: as in the “let’s make fun of people we disagree with”, or “let’s diminish them rather than see them” trope. “They are different, and by implication, they are wrong!”

But, you see, my problem here is that these people are like me! So I have to really reflect on the ‘why’ behind their decision. ‘Why’ would you uproot your family or life and allow yourself to be a prop in a geopolitical reality show?

Sometimes someone else’s ‘why’, looks to us like madness, irrationality, or even (dare I say), stupidity. But, that shouldn’t stop us from trying to stand in their shoes (even if it is their ‘vellies’) for just a moment. There is no definition by which these people (or the thousands that may still follow them), could ever be classified as ‘refugees’. That is pure theatre! So let’s not waste time on the designation, or even on the political motivation for the decision or even the timing of it.

Any person who decides to leave their current job, relationship, or even their country is either ‘going away from’ something not satisfactory, or they are ‘going to’ something potentially (and hopefully) better. And NO, that is not always the same thing!

Leaving a place where you are not happy, (even if that place is your country), speaks to your ‘why’, your motivation. I’m not a psychologist, but my experience tells me that ‘going towards’ something appealing – a better life, new opportunities, etc. is a much better motivation for big life decisions.

The reason I was always interested in why people left my team/s was because it forced me to do deep and serious introspection. Perhaps things were not quite the way I had thought or would have wanted them to be. Perhaps peoples’ lived experiences were different to mine, and perhaps my dream or vision pushed them away rather than drawing them in, failing to excite and energize them.

What should I do, if anything, with such insights?

Perhaps for someone leaving, it is indeed better for them – in the same way that it might be better for those individuals who choose to remain. Whenever a colleague left for something better, or as I saw it, “for the right reasons”, I felt like a proud parent seeing a child stepping out of the house into a better future. Sad to see them go, but so proud to see them conquer the world.

So let me boldly ask, do we, as South Africa, have a credible dream or vision that all of our people can buy into? If so, what is it? Is it a magnet that draws us in or repels us?

I truly believe our diversity is part of our DNA as a nation and I believe that we need the “Boer Maak ‘n Plan’ Afrikaners, as much as we need the inclusivity that is embedded in Ubuntu.

When you encounter one of the many (probably hundreds of thousands), of people who have emigrated permanently from South Africa, you can immediately tell from their stories whether they escaped from something horrible, or whether they just went to something better for them and their families.

In my experience, those who see themselves as victims are never quite as happy as those who stand by their decisions to boldly step into new opportunities.