Nelson Mandela's return to normal society, including his one-term presidency of a democratic SA, has not only raised the leadership bar but also injected a sense of urgency among those interested in the restoration and promotion of desirable leadership values and behaviour.
Five years of researching the leadership experiences of communities, within and outside African society, has revealed factors that contribute to effective and ineffective leadership. The research has also shown that African society responds more readily to leadership approaches based on the experiences, efforts, ideas and contributions of all sections of the community. Africa is more at home with a collective style of leadership and does not respond well to leadership approaches based on the ideas and actions of one dominant individual: a colossus who towers over mere mortals.
Mandela has seldom missed the opportunity to remind his admirers that credit for his contribution and achievements must be directed to those through whom he leads, rather than to him alone.
But the single quality that epitomises Mandela's leadership style and underlies his magnetism and aligns him with the great traditions of his African forebears is his capacity to manage paradox. Like so many great African leaders, he has the ability to understand solutions to intractable problems that mediate a paradox.
Students of leadership have long known that the effective handling of paradoxes is at the heart of successful leadership. These are the contradictions that a leader must manage if he is to survive and prosper. An example of this phenomenon is the love-hate relationship that a leader has with his followers. When two or more of his subjects have a dispute, it is the leader's duty to judge between them. But as soon as he does, he immediately pleases the one and angers the other. And from that day on, rebellion or revolution begin to ferment in the hearts of people, threatening the leader's tenure and even his survival.
Mandela's adroit handling of paradox can be seen in his ability to find solutions that bridge apparently insurmountable gaps. Possibly the greatest such feat was his solution to the gap that existed between apartheid and the philosophical position of the left-leaning ANC. Together with members of his leadership collective, he orchestrated a reconciliation between the acutely divergent views that continues to intrigue scholars.
It is well recognised that conflict is an inherent part of every society. It is a part of African lore that the good and enduring leader must learn quickly how to manage conflict, using the resources that society places at his disposal. If he does not, he is criticised and overthrown. Another resource that good leaders use to great effect is the mystical element that leaders are generally supposed to possess. Wise counsellors will ensure that a leader does not make himself too easily accessible to his followers. He must maintain a certain distance, or aloofness. In this way, any beliefs of magical powers are enhanced and a healthy fear is aroused in those who might wish to foment rebellion.
In apparent contradiction of this principle, Mandela's ready mingling with the common people is unique and endears him to all he meets.
His consummate mastery of the leadership construct is also seen in the way he surmounts the chasm between modern elitist society and the rural African environment. He is at home in the company of sophisticated world leaders and among the people of Qunu in the Transkei. He demonstrates that effective leaders become submerged in their followers rather than standing aloof from those who support them. He also demonstrates that effective individuals have unfathomable capacity to walk with, and listen to, the voices of people outside the immediate circles of the leadership collective.
The ability to manage paradox is a central tenet of Mandela' s mystical abilities, but there are others that contribute to his aura. One is his deep-seated desire to facilitate uplifting the lives of ordinary people through education. This translates into an intimate knowledge of local conditions, including the needs and aspirations of the people, clean administration and generous doses of humility, transparency and accountability.
Mandela's release from prison was received as a moment of affirmation in the record of Africa's history. It was a moment of celebration of Africa's self-development, of Africa's indigenous history before subjugation. It was a moment to recall that the facts of Africa's own history have always been, and remain, an entirely convincing denial of the mythologies of the racism in whose name so many have suffered persecution.
Another perspective is that a strong leader is a bad leader unless he acts in ways that are fair, dignified and familiar, and pursues policies that are supported by most of the people. Here, too, our first democratically elected president has reaffirmed the ageless truths of the traditional African concept of leadership, and given it stature in the eyes of other cultures. Though he towers head and shoulders above other leaders, he shows such humility and compassion for the poor and downtrodden that even his critics are forced into quiescence lest they be accused of churlishness.
This, then, is the accolade of our "man of paradox". A leader among leaders, he has the common touch among the masses. Yet his leadership peers, among them presidents, kings and queens , revere him. A visionary who compels extremists to moderate their positions, he is revered by all sectors. An African who can dispense harsh criticism, he commands respect from the chastised. He is a shining example of the excellence of African leadership principles and deserves to be recorded as Africa's greatest leader. The man we have come to know and experience as a mystery. To paraphrase Larry McMurtry, like those one-in-a-million-years leaders, Mandela remains a living force whose indefiniteness is made powerful and enduring by the abstractness of his brand of leadership.
Many among us know him well as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Madiba and Tata, but it is only in a certain limited way that we know him at all. Long after time has separated the myth from the man,
Mandela's legend will continue to grow, mainly from a broken people's need to remember and believe in unbroken heroes - heroes who remained true to the precepts of their fathers and the ways of the culture and the traditions that bred them.
