TONY LEON: Powerful lessons on what it means to be a leader
Two encounters with remarkable women revealed a glimpse of a future in a 'better South Africa in a better world'
Two encounters with remarkable women revealed a glimpse of a future in a "better South Africa in a better world", to adapt the slogan of our Department of International Relations and Co-operation. First was an interaction with the first Hispanic woman ever appointed to the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.Sotomayor, an appointee of Barack Obama to the most powerful check on the impulses and impulsiveness of any US president, was at the University of Cape Town to deliver the annual Rabinowitz lecture. She does not view her uniqueness as the only Latino ever to grace a bench dominated by older white men as her most important characteristic. When asked by former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs whether she felt she carried the burdens and expectations of this large, hitherto excluded minority community in the US, she gave a subtle and illuminating answer. She acknowledged with pride that she was, as it were, the first of her tribe to grace the court. But then she added: "I hope ...
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