The critical need for effective modern leadership in all its facets was laid bare by six of the country’s dynamic leadership figures in Port Elizabeth yesterday, but it was retired Judge Johann Kriegler who held delegates spellbound and thrust leadership into the hands of the ordinary woman and man.
The vastly experienced and internationally renowned founding justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court was the last of the six speakers at the Nelson Mandela Bay Leadership Summit 2018, hosted by the Nelson Mandela University Business school
His address was preceded by energetic, insightful leadership wisdom imparted by independent economist Dr Thabi Leoka, Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive Nomkhita Mona and University of the Western Cape deputy vice-chancellor Professor Vivienne Lawack.
They were joined at the podium by author and Kagiso Trust chairman the Rev Frank Chikane and author and Discovery Holdings franchise director Kate Moodley.
They largely based their addresses on their own experiences, which they used to illustrate current and future trends and the requirements of modern leadership.
There was agreement that there were leadership crises worldwide.
Common to all speakers was their outlook on the need for ethical leadership driven by high moral standards and a humanistic approach.

Outlining how she had resigned from a former job rather than participate in what she believed was an unethical authorisation of a particular multi-million payment, Mona revealed that she had narrowly avoided being an unwitting participant in a Gupta-related state capture scandal.
“Leadership is about being brave, it’s about considering how your actions are going to affect others, it’s about seeing the bigger picture,” she said.
“Leadership is not simply a title, it is an attitude, and it should not just be a routine.”
Chikane said many leaders today had “no exposure to the world” and no knowledge of the history and the events which had created the current situations around the world.
Kriegler spoke at length around the many global crises he had assisted with.
His talk was built around ordinary folk who rose to the occasion at critical junctures.
Citing the many recent political murders in KwaZulu-Natal and other examples, he expressed concern about next year’s elections and had harsh words for the current state of political affairs and democracy.
He urged citizens to protect and promote their democracy through vociferous, non-violent protest...