Driving Mandela's vision for African leaders

The qualities they are looking for in the young leaders who apply for a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship seem almost quaint and old fashioned when you set them up against the current standards emanating from the “land of the free”.

“Aspire to this scholarship if you believe you have within you the moral force of character and instinct to lead; and understand that leadership is more than personal ambition, it is also service, requiring the will and capacity to inspire and develop fellow human beings to their own excellence; Aspire to this if you believe in being part of creating a humane world in which all individuals and cultures enjoy equal respect; a world whose emergence will say a new order is born in which we are all each other's keepers; Aspire to this if you value truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship.”

The list of aspirations is long, and in its 22nd year the scholarship forged in the ethos of Madiba seems to have a more urgent purpose — now more than ever we need a deepening cohort of African leaders who are funded for postgraduate studies at any South African institution and at the same time given rigorous leadership training to empower them with the skills, drive, energy and ethical framework to take on the world.

I meet Judy Sikuza, the Mandela Rhodes Foundation's vibrant powerhouse of a CEO, at Ouzeri, the ridiculously brilliant Greek restaurant (take my word on this, I am of Greek extraction) on Wale Street in Cape Town, where I overdose on their olive bread and delightful salads. It is just up the road from her office.

She is the embodiment of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship and an alumna herself. She studied psychology at Nelson Mandela University and then won a Fulbright scholarship for her masters at Columbia University. After returning to work for Absa and Investec in Johannesburg, living in Maboneng and on a direct path to the C-suite, she took a gap year to recalibrate.

“I know it sounds kind of hippy dippy, but I felt I was being called to something.” She visited the Mandela Rhodes office to check in as an alumna and before she knew it they had co-opted her to run the leadership programme, cycled her through deputy CEO and five years ago appointed her CEO. I think we would all be incredibly fortunate if she had a calling to pop in for a visit at parliament.

How does she feel about the news on the global leadership front? “Everyone’s behaving from a toddler mentality. You know how toddlers are — me, now, I want, it’s mine, versus how do you think with emotional intelligence? I want this. You want that? What's the third way?”

The third way is to create young leaders who have grown out of their toddlerhood. “Madiba wanted us to build the next generation of young people who would have the kind of values that are able to build bridges across divides, because I think that's the thing that we're missing right now.”

This was the founding principle of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, formed by Nelson Mandela in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. “Forming the partnership was a considered act of reconciliation and, specifically, reparation: a way to return some of Cecil John Rhodes’s wealth to its origins in Africa. Mr Mandela’s intention was to ‘close the circle of history’ by utilising Rhodes’s resources for the advancement of Africa.”

She tells me about her own postgraduate experience in the US. “I went to Columbia University. That was an incredible experience. This girl from Butterworth moves to the big city, nobody knows me so I can really just explore myself, explore ideas. And I think it broadened my global perspective. A lot of people really respected South Africa and so I found myself being challenged to answer questions about the country — politics and the implications of South Africa's progress and our international standing and how one thinks about those things. It built my diplomatic muscle.”

At the foundation she is exercising her diplomatic skills on its new podcast. “We’re really excited about the podcast, because I think the space will allow us to have some brave conversations about the continent and for people to hear what these brilliant young people are doing and thinking and the ideas they're coming up with — and it's a space for inspiration.”

I wonder what she has learnt on her own leadership journey. “Having compassion for myself is something that never came naturally for me, because as an overachiever I can be quite hard on myself. And I think having my daughter has really grounded me. Because then, as leaders, we can hold space for others. I think that's a huge thing, and I'm still on that journey, because I do set very high standards for myself. So I think young Judy would look at current Judy and be proud. But I think the deeper question now is, what one does with this platform?” 

Her immediate challenge is to get scholars from all 55 countries in Africa. “We are in 33 countries and all our fundraising is to really fulfill Madiba’s pan-Africanist vision, and so we are targeting North and East Africa now. People say young people are the future. I'm like, no — 70% of the continent by 2030 is going to be under the age of 35. So we have to capacitate these young people with the relevant education and leadership skills to actually step in and lead.”

This column originally appeared in Sunday Times Lifestyle.