It is easier to speak about Bonang Mohale and ethical leadership in one sentence. Bonang continues to be a champion and advocate of ethical leadership not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector where he is more involved.
In his second book titled Behold the Turtle- Thoughts on Ethically Principled Leadership, Bonang not only continue with preaching his gospel on ethical leadership in South Africa, but he has also included the voices of his esteemed business colleagues to share thoughts and testimony about the Bonang Mohale they know.
Divided into 10 parts, Bonang shows how unethical leadership resulted in the heinous crime of state capture, and also how ethical leadership in these trying times of confronting the Covid-19 pandemic can help take the country out of its socioeconomic pit.
Inside the pages of this book, I was reminded that ethical leadership in South Africa will not only ensure that inequality, corruption, poverty, unemployment are fully tackled head-on, but that accountability will become a norm in our government and the private sector.
Oftentimes public and private sector leaders get away with so many things that rob the poor people of a better life, because they are not held accountable for their actions. And Bonang thoroughly shows us how we can end that kind of unaccountable culture by ensuring that we promote more ethical leadership from our societies to government and corporations.
Perusing through the pages of this book, Bonang not only inspire and encourage everyone to remember that we are all leaders in our own right, but that we all have to put our hands on the wheel to ensure that we – the people of South Africa, no longer co-exist with poverty, unequal, unemployment, sexism and all the socio-economic that have come to define our country since the dawn of our negotiated democracy.
Behold the Turtle is brave, engaging, and a powerful tool that we need to build and move this country forward.
For some readers though, especially those who are supporters of former President Jacob Zuma, they will find Bonang’s tone throughout the pages to be that of being anti-Zuma.
I was a bit disappointed with how the scribe kept on referencing the often-repeated narrative of the ‘nine wasted years’ when talking about the Zuma’s presidency. It feels like he is just trying to water down all the small successes the Zuma government achieved- albeit a few.
There are two things that you will do once you have the book: You will either agree with him that unethical leadership is what resulted with state capture and that those who were part of it and are still leading us in the sixth administration should be held accountable for their roles or you will call him a factionalist who paint other political leaders as villains, while failing to call out those who we part of the state capture project- albeit they kept silent while the looters were hard at work.
Either way, you will agree with him that we need ethical leadership in both private and public sectors. I enjoyed this.
This book should be at the desk of every leader in South Africa, including those who have aided and abetted state capture and those who are rebuilding the country. This is a much-needed reference book for everyone who is called to lead in this country.