The president has lifted neither our sights nor our spirits
05 December 2023 - 15:12
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David McCullough, a two-time Pulitzer winner and author of the Truman biography, was interviewed by Harvard Business Review on leadership (January-February 2013 edition). Asked what makes a president a great leader he answered: “The capacity to lift our sights a little higher ... one who can say ‘I am not going to make it easier for us. I am going to make it harder, because we have hard things to do’.”
There was a time when I believed President Cyril Ramaphosa was the one. Someone who could lift our sights higher than Jacob Zuma. But months turned to years, and my hope dried up like a spring in a Karoo drought. My disappointment turned to disillusionment.
I cannot understand why Ramaphosa failed as a leader. He had financial backing from big businesses. He was a media darling. He was more popular than the ANC. And Zuma had set the leadership bar so low.
Still, Ramaphosa failed to lift our sights, or our spirits. The Eskom nightmare is a case in point. I wish our president would read Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s 1997 letter to shareholders. He said: “It’s all about the long term.”
The long term begins with a clear vision, brilliant minds around you and a backbone. My question to those in power is: where are you taking this beautiful country? Can you save us from yourselves?
Dr Lucas Ntyintyane Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Ramaphosa has failed as a leader
The president has lifted neither our sights nor our spirits
David McCullough, a two-time Pulitzer winner and author of the Truman biography, was interviewed by Harvard Business Review on leadership (January-February 2013 edition). Asked what makes a president a great leader he answered: “The capacity to lift our sights a little higher ... one who can say ‘I am not going to make it easier for us. I am going to make it harder, because we have hard things to do’.”
There was a time when I believed President Cyril Ramaphosa was the one. Someone who could lift our sights higher than Jacob Zuma. But months turned to years, and my hope dried up like a spring in a Karoo drought. My disappointment turned to disillusionment.
I cannot understand why Ramaphosa failed as a leader. He had financial backing from big businesses. He was a media darling. He was more popular than the ANC. And Zuma had set the leadership bar so low.
Still, Ramaphosa failed to lift our sights, or our spirits. The Eskom nightmare is a case in point. I wish our president would read Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s 1997 letter to shareholders. He said: “It’s all about the long term.”
The long term begins with a clear vision, brilliant minds around you and a backbone. My question to those in power is: where are you taking this beautiful country? Can you save us from yourselves?
Dr Lucas Ntyintyane
Via email
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
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