Valedictory Accolades to Assupol
By Dr Reuel J. Khoza I 27 September 2024
By way of introduction I would like to cite three African idiomatic expressions, which are as popular as they are profound:
“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” is Nguni for “a person finds genuine human expression by humanely and caringly relating to other people” or, “I am because you are, you are because we are.” Interdependence is a superior value to independence.
"Rintiho rin ‘we a ri nusi hove” is Shangaan for “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Cooperation achieves much more than selfish individual pursuits.
“Kgosi ke gosi ka batho” is Sepedi for “There can be no leader / king without followers and vice versa.” Societal and organisational success depends on the reciprocity between leaders and followers.
I have a belief that life in general, and organisational life in particular, is inter-related. All humanity is part of one reciprocal process. To the degree that I harm my colleague, to that extent I harm myself. To the degree that I enhance my colleague, to that extent I enhance myself.
A great deal of genuine and beneficial leadership is linked to the ability to intuit how humanity is interrelated. Leaders must be able to align human forces to flow in one direction, in pursuit of a commonality of interests. This is the underlying, fundamental role of leadership: to find a way to encourage diverse people and elements to work together.
When you achieve this, you gain followers. When you gain followers, you become a leader. When you become a leader, you provide direction. When people follow that direction, you achieve results.
Today’s Award Winners are a special group of Assupol heroes and heroines. Your adherence to business discipline, your diligence and dedication, are worthy of the utmost praise and commendation.
You, the award winners, are working at the rock-face where tomorrow is taking shape. You are at the frontier, serving as guides to things as they are and as they will be. Many people are passive products of their environment, lacking the will to change and develop their potential. You, by contrast, have mastered your circumstances. You have shaped and influenced your context, and for this you deserve praise.
Martin Luther King Junior believed that individuals should always strive for their highest potential. He encouraged people to pursue excellence in their endeavours, saying “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.”
Today, as we recognise your achievements, I have some thoughts I would like you and your colleagues to hear. In the shaping of the transforming Assupol, you can make a key contribution:
By replacing breakdowns with breakthroughs
By turning incompetence into excellence, contagious excellence
By replacing defeatist notions with victorious thought
By being true business leaders, not just maintainers of the status quo.
When you interact with your colleagues and subordinates:
Coach them as a role model would, don’t drive them
Inspire enthusiasm, not fear
Set the pace rather than merely assign tasks
Make work a challenge, not a drudgery
Cultivate teamwork, not counter-productive individualism.
May I briefly pay tribute to the Assupol executive team I have had the fortune of working closely with during my sojourn as Chairman: Judy and Wilna for unmatchable diligence, dedication and accessibility. Niel and Siphiwe for quintessential professionalism and exemplary equanimity – calmness and composure, especially in challenging situations. Of Bridget Mokwena-Halala, the best I can do by way of paying tribute is to paraphrase James McCune Smith’s tribute to Frederick Douglass, a 19th century African American leader of great stature: “When a woman raises herself from the lowest condition in society to the highest, mankind pays her the tribute to their admiration; when she accomplishes this elevation by native energy, guided by prudence and wisdom, their admiration is increased; but when her course, onward and upward, excellent in itself, furthermore proves possible what had hitherto been regarded as an impossible reform, then she becomes the shining light on which the aged may look with gladness, the young with hope, the downtrodden as a representative of what they themselves may become.”
The words of the famous 19th century African-American former slave turned profound thinker and great leader, Frederick Douglass, continue to echo from generation to generation and may serve to inspire us today:
“Our destiny is largely in our hands. If we find, we shall have to seek. If we succeed in the race of life it must be by our own energies, and our own exertions. Others may clear the road, but we must go forward, or be left behind in the race of life. If we remain poor and dependent, the riches of other men will not avail us. If we are ignorant, the intelligence of other men will do but little for us. If we are foolish, the wisdom of other men will not guide us. If we are wasteful of time and money, the economy of other men will only make our destitution the more disgraceful and hurtful.”
May I conclude by sounding this note: the happiest and most successful people do not necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything! Let us make the most of our energies as Assupol management and staff.
It is time for me to say adieus: on behalf of those Board Members who will be leaving as Sanlam formally acquires Assupol I would like to bid you valediction. We have immensely enjoyed directing your organizational affairs during the past five years or so. Your spirit de corpse and dedication to the Assupol mission was something to marvel. For that our gratitude defies limits.