LETTER: Rhino-skinned leader is needed

He is not black. He is not a transformation candidate. He is not an engineer. He knows nothing about Eskom. Some analysts have gone a step further by tweeting the declining Nampak share price.

My answer to the naysayers is “Nelson Mandela”. When Madiba was looking for a finance minister, he went to the Cape Flats. His choice was a guy who had never been inside a business school or been a CEO at a blue-chip company. The experts told Mandela he was mad to appoint such a person to run a complicated economy such as SA’s. Yet Trevor Manuel went on to become one of the world’s best finance ministers, and saved this country from the 2008 global meltdown.

Rassie Erasmus repeated the Mandela trick, appointing Siya Kolisi as his Springbok captain even though he was not the best in his position and had been told to drop him. They got us the Rugby World Cup. Why did Rassie and Mandela appoint people who were not favoured by analysts and experts? Because they were looking for leaders, not mere experts.

Eskom does not need an engineer or transformation candidate. It needs a leader with a rhino skin.

Great leaders surround themselves with brilliant minds. Henry Ford did it. Mbhazima Shilowa followed the same route in Gauteng. Richard Branson has a great team around him.

Good luck Andre de Ruyter. Do a Trevor Manuel at Eskom.

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane

Via e-mail