IT IS TIME FOR EVERY CITIZEN TO BE RESPONSIBLE, writes Rev Dr Mvume Dandala as Heartlines, a campaign to get South Africans talking about values – the ties that bind us as South Africans – gains momentum.

In the run-up to June 16 this year, it was moving to see Seth Mazibuko being quoted in the print media as saying that as a student leader at the Phefeni Secondary School in Soweto, having mobilised scholars in 1976 to embark on what was intended to be a peaceful protest march, that he had been so shattered by the tragic consequences, that he had felt a sense of responsibility.

Together with men of integrity like Murpy Morobe and others, when he realised what mayhem was about to be unleashed, they had gone to the police to try and reason with them not to shoot the students. In accepting the consequences of their decision in which such unnecessary violence was used, they were not about to abandon the responsibility for those youngsters who passionately believed that the march would change the direction of education for the benefit of all learners –which it did!

Responsibility is accepting the duty to take and act on decisions that positively influence the direction of life.  A country moves forward when its citizens individually accept responsibility for its well-being. 

When a democratically elected government does not live up to expectations or its pre-election promises, the electorate has to accept the responsibility of its choice by helping turn their policies into actions that will be of benefit to the community.

It is not the responsibility of Government to put food on the table.  It is however, their responsibility to create an environment in which opportunities exist for people to create better lives for themselves.   In a democracy like ours, there are democratic ways of bringing about change. The electorate can exercise its vote at the polls, the opposition can challenge and force the Government to sharpen its’ policies. 

What is unforgivable is to shirk responsibility and expect others to deliver for you.

Some of our schools at present are exceedingly unsafe. Substance abuse is rife, teachers feel insecure, girls fear abuse and boys come to class with knives and other weapons.

We cannot just sit back as a community and wait for the Government to sort it out. We have a responsibility as parents to serve on school governing bodies. When complaints arise because schools refuse to teach certain languages what influence do we as parents have if we merely sit carping on the sidelines.

If there is no clinic in a particular community, the question is, who is responsible for moving the authorities to do something? It means taking the initiative – that is what responsible partnership is all about.

Historically, it is true in South Africa that the majority did not have control of its own destiny. The apartheid government was a government of patronage in which people were bribed to accept the unacceptable.  Therefore governance was equated with patronage and the levels of need so paralysed people that those in authority were seen as ‘messiahs’ who had come to save them by meeting their basic needs.

What are required in a liberated South Africa, are robust communities that constantly search for opportunities to transform and improve our country - not only for the individual - but also for the entire community. One of the consequences of waiting for freedom which is a long time in coming is to associate its arrival with opportunities to resolve problems like education and employment for me and mine. Responsibility in its purest form, places the emphasis on working collectively for the betterment of all.

One of the enormous challenges facing the South African government has been to provide water in communities that have been without this basic commodity. Once the pipes have been installed and the euphoria of having water on tap has subsided, the fact that the pipes are leaking invariably elicits the response that someone else needs to fix it. So it is left and gallons of it seep into the soil causing other problems.

By the same token, if electricity comes to my home I have the responsibility to pay for this service, not only that I may continue to benefit, but for the sake of others who are still to receive it.  Collective responsibility will create a society that shares. Feelings of entitlement should be long gone. We are no longer recipients of a patronage government. We need to take responsibility for what has been provided for us.  

When it comes to payment though, there may be some who really cannot afford to pay for services - every community has them.  Responsibility says we ought to be looking at ways of caring for others who genuinely need assistance by participating in community forums where discussion takes place with those in leadership in an effort to find acceptable solutions. This “ubuntu” spirit is not new to Africa.

There is a practise among most African communities called ‘ukusisa’.  If I have cows and you have none, I don’t embarrass you by sending buckets of milk to your house as a gift. I preserve your dignity by giving you a cow and prevail upon you to look after it for me by telling you that you will have solved an enormous problem for me. In this way I have given you an opportunity to exercise responsibility and at the same time benefit from the milk the cow produces. 

During the dark days of the ‘eighties in the Arthur Wellington Church in New Brighton Port Elizabeth, the security police would write graffiti on the wall of our beloved church which was a haven for the community.  This happened a few times and as the leader, I was surprised to see the senseless scribble being repeatedly obliterated by a new coat of paint.  Every time it happened some member of the church, without any fuss or discussion, would go and buy some paint and do what needed to be done. Even though with time the different shade lots did not always match, for me - those uneven lines were the ultimate reflection of responsibility that had been shouldered for the good of the whole.

Rev Mvume H Dandala is General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, and is the recipient of the Presidential Order of the Baobab (Silver) for his peace-making role in South Africa.

ARE SOUTH AFRICAN FAMILIES FALLING APART?Family and the notion of family responsibility seem to be changing rapidly. Recent research indicates that absent fathers are common in South Africa and that poverty might be shaping the way the family is evolving. Sharon Davis reports.

South Africa’s first report on fatherhood, released by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) this year, shows an increasing trend, especially among the poor, of the abandonment of marriage and cohabitation.

“An overwhelming majority of children grow up in female-headed households,” reads chapter 19 of Baba: Men and fatherhood in South Africa. And the reasons are many. “We do not only speak here of western marriages,” writes researchers Phillippe Denis and Radikobo Ntsimane. “Customary marriage with payment of a bride wealth (lobola) to the bride’s family has also become obsolete.”

According to the report, fathers generally have casual encounters with the children’s mother, or the parents only cohabit for a short time. “The biological fathers play a marginal role in the children’s lives,” says the report

The HSRC report states: “Many women have ceased to pursue the ideal of marriage, and the stigma of single motherhood has receded. Many of these single women believe that raising children alone is preferable to suffering the abuse of a violent and unstable man.”

One woman is quoted in the report as saying: “Ndumiso left me before Jabulani was born. When I told him I was pregnant, he went away and I never heard anything about him.”

Not all fathers desert their children, of course. The HSRC interviews do provide evidence of men who care for their children or grandchildren and constitute role models for them. “But such men are the exception.”

Statistics quoted in the report show that 18 percent of mothers abandon their children, but amongst fathers the rate of abandonment (not keeping contact or providing support) is as high as 75 percent.

The change in attitude towards marriage is also reflected in the socio-macro report, A Nation in the Making – A Discussion of Socio-Macro Trends in South Africa, released by government on 23 June 2006. It reads: “There is a trend for the nuclear family to recede as a basic unit of organisation, with an increase in single or extended households. At one level, this reflects the dynamism of a society experiencing social change; but on the other hand, it presents serious challenges of household subsistence in poor areas and the social upbringing of the young.”

The question is – what effect does this have on children? And researchers pose a very valid question: “One wonders how boys who have been deprived of the presence of a father will ever learn how to become fathers themselves.”

According to the HSRC report, “some children express the pain of not living with their father and not even knowing their father’s name”.

“There was nothing I could do,” lamented one of the mother’s interviewed for the HSRC research. “The boy’s father claimed he was not responsible for the pregnancy. The problem was that my son wanted to know his father. One day he cried, saying his younger bother knew who his father was. He also wanted to visit his father.”

Linda Richter and Robert Morrell, compiling editors of the HSRC report, say that the physical absence of fathers – caused by situations of divorce, domestic instability, work and social dislocation, including wars – has been identified as a major problem.

They add that in the United States (US) work on fatherhood has identified absent fathers as one of a number of factors associated with poor educational outcomes among children, difficulties with psychosocial development, anti-social behaviour and delinquency, and disrupted employment trajectories.

The US Department of Heath and Human Services a 1993 survey of child health in Washington DC showed that “fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, suicide, poor educational performance, teen pregnancy, and criminality.” Numerous other studies throughout the US support these findings.

In a 1998 study of young men serving jail sentences or involved in crime, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (South Africa) found that most of those interviewed were “often abandoned or kicked out of their homes. Many expressed feelings of being unloved.”

Martin Schonteich, in research conducted for the Institute for Security Studies, says that the absence of a father figure early in the lives of young males tends to increase delinquency and that such an absence will directly affect a boy’s ability to develop self-control.

“It is a disaster to have no man in the home,” said Dave Metzler, founder of Cool Values, a Durban-based business that supplies teaching aids to facilitate the instruction of morals and values to school children. “My research shows that 98 percent of all prisoners in jail today have an absent father figure.”

“Absent father’s have a huge negative spin-off for the whole family. Men don’t give attention to their children and the children are deprived of tough moral guidance.”

One of the main reasons why fathers don’t take up their fatherhood roles, according to the HSRC, is lack of resources. Poverty is highlighted as the most important factor undermining the role of fatherhood and the involvement of fathers. Fathers, who are able to meet what they consider to be a father’s responsibility to provide for their family, are more likely to deny or flee the fatherhood role.

In contrast to the poorer sections of the population, fatherhood patterns in more affluent areas are changing as the country and the economy changes. Workers who now have their families with them are beginning to extend their fatherhood practice more into caring and engaging in play and school-preparation activities.

Results from urban surveys show that parenthood and family are important to young South Africans, and young men are increasingly speaking out about their desire to be good fathers.

This growing awareness of being good fathers is not just evidenced in surveys. Zola, South Africa’s hottest kwaito star, tackles the issue of fathers and the need to step up and be real fathers in hi

DO COMPANIES HONOUR THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO THEIR STAFF, environments and communities? Do they have a community? Stuart Graham reports.

Does business have any responsibility to society?  The Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman does not think so.  Friedman says society’s significant increase in living standards in the past century was achieved through business’ single minded desire for profit. As a result businesses can have clear conscious when it comes to its corporate responsibility.

“In a free-enterprise, private-property sys­tem, a corporate executive is an employee of the owners of the business,” Friedman wrote in The New York Times Magazine in 1970. “He has direct re­sponsibility to his employers. That responsi­bility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while con­forming to the basic rules of the society.”

But what would Friedman have to say about the spread of Aids, which affects not only employees but a firm’s customer base? If companies were to adopt a laissez-faire attitude to their HIV positive workers and potential customers, what impact would that have on their profits? Surely it would be in their interests to have a healthy and productive population?

The Grant Thornton International Business Owners' Survey 2006, which includes companies with 50 to 250 employees, found recently that South Africa is losing between R1.8 billion and R2.2 billion a year through worker absenteeism from Aids.

South African firms have realised the devastating impact that the disease is having on their profit margins and productivity levels. The Business Owners Survey found that companies have become more inclined to provide treatment since the average annual cost of treating an employee infected with HIV has dropped from R48,000 in 1998 to less than R10,000 a year.

As a result comprehensive HIV programmes are now mandatory at most firms.

Crime is another instability in society and its effect on corporate profits is large. Some would argue that it is a business’ responsibility to do whatever it can to reduce crime. A few years ago South African companies formed the Business Against Crime organisation. Although, the move was perhaps more of a necessity than a responsibility.

Overall, South African companies have had to change the way they look at their corporate social responsibilities in recent years.

The second King Report on corporate governance, which provides ethical and social guidelines for firms to follow, was launched in 2002. Firms have to be King II compliant before they are allowed to list on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.

As a follow up to the King Report, the JSE launched the voluntary Socially Responsible Investment Index in 2004. The SRI now grades firms according to their social projects.

So far South African firms have performed admirably when it comes to corporate responsibility. In 2005 the country’s business social commitment ranked eighth out of 60 nations in the World Competitiveness Yearbook.

A KPMG survey found recently that South Africa had shown the biggest increase in stand-alone corporate responsibility reporting in the world.

Bill Lacey of SA Chamber of Business says a good corporate citizen in one that is attentive to the needs and aspirations of its shareholders, workers and its consumers.

“The public at large is important especially in the areas such as Aids and environmental  protection,” he says. “These are areas that business has increasingly had to attend to in recent years.”

One way in which businesses are playing more of a social role is by implementing projects that get their employees more involved with the community.

Gas company Afrox, which receives regular awards for its governance for its social responsibility projects, has had its Community Involvement Programme used as a model by the United Nations.

The programme, which has been running since 1995, entails employees volunteering to provide care and support to orphanages and centres for abused and abandoned children.

The project was initially met with some cynicism by the staff, but its popularity grew. Some 80 percent of Afrox’s business units now participate. In 2003 the company had 125 projects going, representing 8000 children.

“Despite the slow uptake (15 projects in the first year), the programme has since grown to become one of the best employee involvement programmes in the country,” the UN says.

The UN says where properly planned and implemented, programmes such as Afrox’s CIP help build employee skills, encourage teamwork, promote loyalty and job satisfaction and help attract and retain employees.

“They can also help companies establish brand reputation and strong relations with communities, government leaders and other stakeholder groups,” the UN says.

Politician turned businessman Tokyo Sexwale is using his company, Mvelaphanda, to fund a variety of social initiatives.

One of its projects involves working with the Department of Health to provide wheelchairs to the underprivelidged.

A few years ago after a major fire in the township of Khayalitsha, Mvelaphanda provided blankets and other goods to help the homeless.

Two years ago the company distributed television sets to hospitals around Gauteng.

It also provides for the widows of apartheid freedom fighters.

“The company focuses its charity work on very specific areas,” company spokesman Chris Vick says.

The environment is another area where firms are having to show responsibility.

The three fundamentally important pieces of South African environmental legislation are the Constitution, the National Environmental Management Act and the Environment Conservation Act.

The legislation however, is fragmented and has resulted in problems of comprehension and enforcement. It is often up to watchdog organisations and the media to keep an eye on companies that are hurting the environment.

The difficulty of proving the liability of a firm in a pollution case was seen a few years ago when members of the town of Prieska took the apartheid era platinum miner Gencor to court after people in the community developed the lung disease asbestiosis.

Gencor fought the claim tooth and nail. It finally agreed to a R400 million payout without admitting liability before unbundling into Impala Platinum.

Companies such as Sasol and Mondi, which impact the environment through their operations, have been commended for the way they handle their responsibilities.

Sasol has been a Responsible Care signatory since 1994 and subscribes to the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative. The guidelines provide an internationally accepted framework for reporting on the social, economic and environmental performances of businesses.

Sasol has been named one of the top performers on the JSE’s SRI. It was also named one of the six top performers out of 31 companies in the category for high environmental impact.

Mondi on the other hand is actively involved in recycling paper.  The company’s national sales and marketing manager Peter Hunter says about 300,000 tons of waste paper and cardboard are recovered a year, with an average of 25,000 tons recycled a month.
Mondi involves schools and charities in a nationwide paper pick-up programme that enables schools and charities to raise funds, while raising environmental awareness.
“There are currently about 2,000 schools and charities in this programme,” Hunter says.
The office paper pickup programme involves the provision of a twinbin to each workstation, as well as a free confidential shredding service. The programme educates staff and involves them in an environmental programme, while generating a modest cash return.
Mondi’s small-business paper pickup programme encourages entrepreneurs to start their own recyclable paper and board collection businesses, called buyback centres, by advising, training and equipping them.

A firm’s ultimate goal may be profit, but South Africa has proved that the fate of a company is undoubtedly linked to the well being of society. Had Friedman ever studied the South African economy, he may have changed his views. – Heartlines Features

MENTION THE NAME JABU PULE – EYES ROLL AND HEADS SHAKE. His is the ultimate tale of talent squandered and opportunities lost.

By Karien Jonckeere

Having struggled with drugs and alcohol abuse and earned a reputation of being entirely unreliable due to his infamous disappearing acts, Pule claims now to be a changed man, complete with the new name of Jabu Mahlangu. He recently attended an advanced training camp in the US and is hugely motivated to make his mark at his new club, Orlando Pirates, this coming season. As Heartlines, an initiative to promote positive values unfolds, he spoke to Karien Jonckheere about why he did the things he did, his regrets and how he is turning his life around. Somehow this time it does sound believable, and possible that the Midfield Maestro might just be back.

When did you decide it was time to get things right and change your life around?
It just happened. I didn’t plan it. I just felt now is the time to live a good life, a happily married life and make it better than it was. When everything happened before, my wife has was always there for me in the good and the bad times. My daughter is now two and I have my first born and my wife is pregnant as well so all these things are my responsibility. I can’t disappoint my wife, family and friends who have supported me any more. I just had to change and think twice before I carried on like I was.

What has changed about your life and what are you doing differently?
It’s the small things that mean a lot and before I didn’t do any of those things. If I had a meeting at 11 I just wouldn’t pitch up or if I was supposed to be at training at 3pm I would only arrive at 3.30 and that’s unprofessional. That wasn’t good for the team or for me. I have had to find out ways of dealing with the situation, to be a better soccer player and a better person.

Why did you do the things you did in the past? Did you enjoy the ‘bad boy’ image?
When I played reserves for Chiefs, it was my dream to be in the first team. I knew I was going to be something in the future. When I was young I had the courage that I would one day be a good player and that people would recognise me as that, not as a bad boy.

I don’t know why I did the things I did. Only God knows why things like that happen. But I have realised the consequences of what I have done in the past and I believe God has given me the power and strength to come back from that. I need to respect  life and what God has given me.

I am taking it one day at a time. I don’t want to pressurise myself to change but I know I can do it with the support of my family and my new club – Pirates and Irvin Khosa and Screamer Tshabalala. It’s a process and I believe I am improving day by day. The good thing is that I am working with someone patient like Irvin Khosa. Mr Khosa is a very patient man and he treats us not only like soccer players but as his children. He said to me ‘I care about your talent but I also care about you. The nation is looking for good things from you.’ He is helping me now but he said to me one day maybe when he’s gone, his children will come to me for help and that was a powerful statement. I think God gave me Mr Khoza for a purpose.

You changed your surname to Mahlangu earlier this year – why did you do that and what difference has it made?
Pule was my mother’s name but when she married my father she didn’t change it to his name. I grew up with my mother and I  didn’t actually know about it. I was suffering and it took a long time to realise what I had to do. And that I could live a good life. I feel different. The day of the ceremony we had when I changed my name I felt like a man. My friends and family were all there. That was the change of Jabu.

Maybe in the past I wanted to change but the ancestors weren’t happy with me. Usually us black people, if we get a new job we have a family ceremony and slaughter a goat or a chicken but I didn’t do any of those things. Now I know what to do and what steps to follow. My family weren’t ever together in the past but now they are.

You have said in the past that you were going to change, what makes this time different?
I think there was a lot of pressure, becoming famous and everyone knows you and there was family pressure. But I have grown up now and am stronger than I was before.

What would your advice be to up and coming players who will face the same temptations as you?
My advice is to enjoy your job and to respect the job, your teammates and the community. It’s also very important to choose your friends well because when you become popular every day you have new friends and you end up not knowing who your real friends are and you end up going with the wrong ones.

What would you say to the fans who felt let down by you and have lost faith in you?
I obviously didn’t plan for any of this to happen, it just happened so I would say to people I know I disappointed them. But they mustn’t judge me. Only God can judge. I want to say I promise to be a good family man and a role model to youngsters so please give me another chance to do that. They will see the difference as time goes by and that I have changed. I want to be called the Midfield Maestro and all those names I used to be called. I want people to see that I have improved and that the real Jabu is back. – Heartlines Features

DOING GOOD - Morné du Plessis beyond rugby

By Karien Jonckheere

Every year the world’s sporting elite gather for what has been dubbed the Oscars of sport – the Laureus sports awards.

But away from the glitz and glamour of that occasion, the Laureus Foundation has a more far-reaching effect on society through their sport for good campaign.

South Africa is well represented within the organisation with both former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis and golf legend Gary Player as members of the Laureus Academy and the likes of Lucas Radebe, Jacques Kallis, Baby Jake Matlala and Natalie du Toit all acting as Laureus ambassadors in the country.

Du Plessis explained that the academy of 42 members (all former elite sportsmen and women) work to allocate funds for social projects worldwide which use sport as a tool for change.

“We are currently supporting 40 projects around the world, six of those in South Africa,” said Du Plessis, also adding his reasons for joining to foundation.

“I decided to be a part of it mainly because of its international reach and it was an opportunity for me to put something back into sport and society in some way. It’s also non-political and non-nationalistic. There are no boundaries – I’ve been involved in China, East Berlin, Kenya, and the slums of India and seen that the problems are universal, kids are universal.

“I am greatly encouraged by sport being able to do something good, that it’s not just entertainment or a way of making lots of money but there’s a greater purpose to it as well.”

Du Plessis believes that sportspeople who have enjoyed years of being in the limelight have a responsibility to make a contribution back to society, but it should not be out of sense of obligation.

“They rely on public acclaim and society gives it to them for free, in fact they pay for it, so there is a certain kind of debt that is owed,” he said.

“And there should be a commitment to making change but it shouldn’t be out of a feeling of obligation because if people feel obliged to do something there is a certain reticence. They need to be fully committed.”

Du Plessis explained that his involvement in social projects around the world has been both a humbling and grounding experience.

“For me it is an important reality check. I get to see the challenges that are faced by society. In our normal, privileged environment we don’t often get to experience life where there aren’t any parents or facilities, or like on of our projects near Cape Town where there is a huge problem with drug abuse and child abuse,” he said.

“I think everyone in a privileged position should be exposed to this type of thing and see all those unheralded people who are working on these projects to uplift society. For me, that’s the greatest aspect of being involved with Laureus – to see how many people do actually get involved. And what we do pales into insignificance compared with the real work that’s getting done by these heroes and heroines.”  - Heartlines Features

PLAYERS, SUPPORTERS AND ADMINISTRATORS SHOULD TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR KEEPING RUGBY SAFE, writes Karien Jonckheere as she explores the events which killed Riaan Loots recently.

By Karien Jonckheere

While Willie Loots sat holding his dying son Riaan’s hand on the side of the field as paramedics tried to revive the 24-year-old rugby player, all he could hear was the persistent shouting of one woman in the crowd. “Slaat sommer die ander donners ook dood.” 

Decisions are still being made as to what will happen to the players responsible for Loots’s death during that match between Rawsonville and Delicious rugby clubs last month. But no punishment is likely to be handed out to the crowd that gathered in Rawsonville that day.

And while, Loots senior gains some comfort from the promises that have been made to deal with the violence that has permeated Boland rugby, he will only be fully convinced when he actually sees the changes implemented.

“Everything is a bit of a haze at the moment. We are still in shock,” said a devastated Loots last week. “It’s easy for those in authority to tell the press ‘this is what we are going to do’ but are they really going to do it?” he asked.

“It’s terrible what happened. This isn’t rugby. I played the game for 20 years and I never came across anything like this. Riaan had only been playing for Rawsonville for two months, and two weeks before that game he had been kicked in the chin and needed nine stitches. A week later he left the field with a bleeding eye and mouth,” added Loots.

“Certain steps have to be taken in terms of security. There is also no discipline from the spectators and as soon as the players start losing, they start playing the man without the ball,” said Loots, suggesting that responsibility lies with players and spectators as well as officials.

“That game should have been stopped after 20 minutes. Riaan was an excellent young man with such a bright future. He had even been offered a place with an English club for the off-season. He was very strong and fit but he didn’t stand a chance that day.”

Loots, a flyhalf, died from his injuries after the incident in which he was allegedly kicked in the head by the opposing team.

The Boland Rugby Union condemned the incident and appointed senior advocate Ismail Jamie to lead an independent inquiry into Loots’s death.

“We totally reject hooliganism, thuggery and inhumane incidents that cause serious injury to the players, administrators and spectators,” said a statement released by the Boland Rugby Union.

“The intolerance and the tendency to resort to violence when there are disagreements between fellow human beings is one big factor that has failed us in our attempts to transform the union,” they added.

Looking to assign responsibility, Loots reckoned: “First of all, the president and management of Boland rugby need to be looking after their players. If I have sons, I must look after them. I guard over my family like they should guard their players.

“The players also need to learn to behave themselves, even if they may be losing. And the spectators are a huge problem. When we arrived at the field that day, they were already drunk and swearing, saying things like ‘slat hulle dood.’ And they influence their players,” said Loots.

One man who saw the problems within club rugby and decided to take matters into his own hands was Stoney Steenkamp who in 2004 formed Rugga SA, an organisation outside of provincial structures, which has set up numerous rugby and netball clubs run under a strict code of conduct.

“It is frightening what is currently happening in rugby. The people who are in positions of power are too afraid of making waves and don’t want to make any decisions regarding disciplining players which will lose them popularity,” said Steenkamp, whose organisation now has 50 member clubs, with 12 more signing up after the Loots incident..

“The other problem is facilities. Small towns of about 10 000 people have up to six or seven clubs which is crazy and facilities are created but they are not up to standard. The fields are too close to the spectators. There are no fences and that lends itself to violence. The spectators become too emotionally involved with what’s going on on the field.

“Referees are being victimised and alcohol also plays a major role. Spectators start drinking when the third or second team are playing and by the time the first team plays they are no longer in a position to evaluate properly. They don’t understand the rules of the game anymore and that creates chaos.

“That’s why Rugga SA have set very strict rules in place. We allow one team per town which encourages the different races to mix, facilities are inspected, the bars are never opened until after the game and with every rugby club we have started there is also a netball club. As soon as you bring the women along, most South African men start behaving themselves.

“What we’re doing is trying to get sport back on track with an emphasis on family values and building bridges because the violence in sport is just unbearable.”

This violence is not something unique to rugby, with various cases seen across the board, in soccer, cricket and even sports like tennis and hockey. On that fateful day in April 2001, 43 people were left dead at a soccer match at Ellis Park. The semifinal of the 1996 Cricket World Cup was ended prematurely because of crowd violence. Thami Tsolekile received a suspension from the sport of hockey after hitting an umpire. And in 1993 tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during a match, to name but a few examples.

What then, are some of the reason behind this kind of behaviour? 

“There are so many variables involved, including individual personality factors, the particular sport, environmental and circumstantial issues,” explained sports psychologist Clinton Gahwiler who is based at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town.

“Some would however say that sport provides a socially acceptable outlet for aggression. And yes, occasionally that aggression transcends the accepted rules of the game. It does also seem fair to assume that this is more likely to occur in sports which sanction a degree of aggression for example rugby as opposed to bowls.

“A player can learn to control such responses, by identifying common triggers, developing an alternative plan, and practicing the implementation of the plan,” added Gahwiler.

Could it be that there is something to what George Orwell once said? “Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.”

Perhaps Steenkamp’s model and the efforts of those who are determined to use sport to build bridges to unite the country can prove otherwise.

If players themselves, spectators and those in charge of the various sports bodies in the country all play their part in taking responsibility for eradicating this scourge of violence, perhaps there is still a chance that Loots’s hope can be realised. “Riaan was so motivated and I think he had already packed into 24 years what most people put into 50. I cannot begin to tell you what a big loss this is. This must never happen again.” – Heartlines Features

PEOPLE AND ELECTED LEADERS ARE EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE

By Sharon Davis              

Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

Responsibility is one of the core values identified by Heartlines, a mass media project focusing on morals and values within South Africa, and with the focus on the recent Jacob Zuma rape trial set to be replaced by a focus on the Jacob Zuma corruption trial, responsible leadership is a hotly debated topic.

According to the Harvard Business School leadership is the development of values-based stewardship and involves accountability, leading responsibly across all cultures, reconciling dilemmas and creating sustainable business.

I am sure that we can agree quite easily on the characteristics of a good leader: someone who is honourable; a person we trust and respect; someone who upholds the values to which we, as a society, ascribe; and a person who leads by example.

Yet we must also accept that leaders are human – and can, and probably will, make mistakes. So what is an acceptable breach of leadership and why does it seem to happen more often in modern times?

It is not just a factor of better media monitoring or globalisation. If we go back a few hundred years leaders were generally identified at an early age. Take any prince or princess – or even the Dalai Lama – as an example. They were carefully groomed for a leadership role. They were taught social graces and political skills. Perhaps, most importantly, they were taught how to deal with power, with access to wealth, with social influence. They had the values and expectations of society inculcated into their very existence.

Leaders were nurtured, mentored, trained and refined. Now they simply indicate their availability and can be voted into a position of power – without any formal training, without guidance in emotional maturity or personal integrity. Is it any wonder that leaders seem to fall from grace more often?

Ethics and responsibility are serious and central components of leadership. “It is important for leaders to set an example,” said Karthy Govender, professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, currently also seconded to the Human Rights Commission. “In a country such as ours people look up to leadership.”

“One is not naïve enough to think that people in leadership roles won’t have extra-martial affairs… but there is serious concern over the Jacob Zuma rape trial – especially the message it is giving regarding HIV and AIDS. Some of the points made in the closing judgement indicate that Zuma made poor decisions. There must be accountability for a lapse in leadership,” said Govender.

Govender added that the broader questions we should be asking regarding Zuma are: “Has he violated elements of the constitution? Was he acting in a manner that is compatible with his office? And would the election of Zuma at state president polarise the country and make it more divisive than it is now?”

In our fledgling democracy, it will be the voters who make this decision. But before we leave the issue hanging until the next election, perhaps we should consider how the opinion of leadership is changing as we find our feet and grow into our (relatively new) constitutional skin.

“Many South Africans (and to a great extent, the media) still seem to be wed to the ideal of the ‘great man’ – a strong patriarchal notion of leadership,” said Marie Odendaal, Student Leader Development Co-ordinator at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“Hence the rapid resort, in times of uncertainty and challenge, to top-down, authoritarian ways of exercising power; the intensity of conflict around who the future leader of the country should be; people's doubts about having a woman as president; and the abdication by many ordinary South Africans of their power and responsibility both to lead and to be critical citizens,” said Odendaal.

Most people are still used to the powerful patriarchal leadership type, as evidenced by the Zuma cult, said Odendaal. As a result the image our elected leaders portray in both their public and private lives serves as a role model and should be considered to be of critical importance.

“Our leaders need to be seen to be motivated primarily by the desire to serve others, not themselves; and to be managing their own lives and relationships effectively and with integrity. They need to act with respect for self and others, in order for people to be able to entrust them with the responsibilities of elected leadership,” said Odendaal.

 “The problem with patriarchal and domineering understanding of leadership,” continued Odendaal, “is that it is wholly inadequate to enable us to meet the complex challenges facing us in South Africa today. These challenges need to be met by complex leadership partnerships within and between different groups and sectors, where people at various levels exercise power competently and with integrity.”

“It is more appropriate to view leadership as a partnership - it is not just about the leader,” said Odendaal.  “It's about the team; it’s about processes and relationships.”

“The process of people working together to achieve a shared, mutually agreed, purpose that results in positive social change to the benefit of the greatest possible number of people - thereby increasing social justice.”

“It's an inclusive process, not an elitist process, involving reciprocal relationships; the flow of power or influence in these relationships is dynamic and multidirectional - bottom-up, top-down, horizontal…”

“This is a much more shared, distributive notion of leadership,” said Odendaal, “and certainly one in which both elected leaders and the people they serve are seen as morally and practically accountable to each other.” – Heartlines Features

AS HEARTLINES, A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO GET SOUTH AFRICANS TALKING ABOUT VALUES, gains momentum, Karien Jonckheere looks at how Swimming South Africa is fulfilling its responsibility to children with its “Every Child A Swimmer” programme.

One of the most harrowing scenes Easlyn Young has had to experience is standing on a river bank in northern KwaZulu-Natal with two devastated parents after all five of their children had just drowned in a river.

It’s the type of scenario that motivates Young and her team at Swimming South Africa to put all their energy and passion into achieving the organisation’s Learn to Swim programme’s motto of “Every child a swimmer”.

Young believes the programme, that began 10 years ago, is fulfilling not only a social responsibility in teaching children how to swim but also meeting a basic human right.

“Within our national strategy we need to address the needs of the nation to learn to swim. That is our responsibility as Swimming South Africa,” she said.

“And that responsibility is enshrined within the bill of rights for children as declared by the United Nations. It is the responsibility of all those in authority to see that a child is clothed, sheltered, healthy and protected. So we need protect our children within an open water environment.”

How this is done is that among others, unemployed youth and unemployed mothers are recruited by Swimming SA accredited instructors. They are then taught to swim and trained as instructors themselves in order to be able to then teach children in their area.

“We are partnering with various groupings of government and business to be able to remunerate people for the services rendered to the community,” explained Young.

“We have three main programmes. The one is Ocean Splash where we have instructors at the ocean to teach children how to use the ocean safely. We have Pool Splash where we put instructors in the swimming pool to teach children. And then we have Rural Splash where we teach swimming in rivers, lakes and dams, because in some parts of the country children need to cross rivers just to get to school.

“Learn to Swim essentially sees to the need for public standards assurance so that people who are going to teach children are properly trained and qualified to do that. And then the mission of Learn to Swim is to make every child a swimmer because it is their right.”

The Learn to Swim initiative is run in partnership with the Department of Water Affairs and Young is also looking to begin working in conjunction with the Department of Health.

“The health department has statistics with regards to obesity among children and it’s largely because they are inactive, just sitting and watching TV,” reckoned Young.

“So this programme is also important in terms of taking responsibility within the context of a child’s health.

“The exciting thing about it is that swimming allows for early motor coordination development without injury and it is about the best form of exercise to develop cardio-vascular performance, particularly in the case of children who are asthmatic. With good motor coordination and cardiovascular performance you have all the makings of a potential champion.”

It is this attitude that Young would like to instill in all her instructors – that they may just be teaching the next Roland Schoeman or Penny Heyns to swim.

And with the programme having reached a massive 100 000 children nationwide just last year thanks to the backing of Telkom (with every province having a local liaison officer), there are plenty of potential champions in the making. Even if they don’t turn out to be superstars though, at least they will be safe from drowning. – Heartlines Features

SHOULD SPORTS PEOPLE BE ROLE MODELS?

By Karien Jonckheere.

NBA star Charles Barkley enjoyed plenty of controversy during his career. But he could not have predicted the massive outcry when, in 1993, he appeared in a Nike advert claiming that athletes should not be role models. “I don’t believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It’s not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn’t like it, they said, ‘Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.’ Parents have to take better control,” he reckoned.

In an era when ear-biting, drug-taking and match-fixing are some of the examples being set on the sports fields, is it possible that the legendary basketball player may just have had a point? What are today’s kids learning from watching sport and should people who just happen to be rather good at the sport they choose to play be placed on pedestals and their behaviour, on and off the field, scrutinised and set as an example to follow?

Studies have shown that children tend to mimic the behaviour of the people they admire most. And in a society in which parents aren’t always present or don’t have copious amounts of time to spend with their children, sports stars and celebrities seem to be the obvious substitute. Those who don’t have staunch mothers or grandmothers like Barkley’s will inevitably look elsewhere for their role models.

Is it then the athlete’s responsibility to take over the role that once belonged to parents?

Granted, parents should take more control. But perhaps sports stars also need to realise that along with their fame and the honour of representing their province or country comes that responsibility to adhere to a certain set of norms known as acceptable behaviour, lest their questionable antics make their way to the back pages of the country’s newspapers and television screens.

Just ask Shane Warne or David Beckham or closer to home, the likes of Benedict Vilakazi and Herschelle Gibbs. The media are ready to pounce on any slight indiscretion on the part of athletes, and the public seem to lap it up, rushing for their copy of You magazine and the latest gossip on who Becks has been sleeping with.

While any average Joe adheres to a certain set of morals and values, the pressure to conduct oneself in a “respectable” manner seems to be hugely intensified once you’re in the limelight and have a green and gold shirt on your back.

And with many metaphors drawn between sport and life, the line between on-field and off-field behaviour seems to be a very faint one.

So whether they’re throwing a sneaky punch on the field in the heat of a game or beating someone over the head in a club, there is little difference. And even though they may not have asked for it, the naïve kid who idolises them will either be desperately disappointed or think that’s an acceptable example to follow.

So maybe Mr Barkley’s theory on parents is the ideal scenario. But it is inevitable that, regardless of whether he may have chosen it or not, he was a role model to many during his career. And while that may be a massive responsibility for any sport star to take on, perhaps it should also be seen as an incredible opportunity to inspire, motivate and spur a nation off their couches and onto the sport fields.

BUFFET’S GUIDE TO ETHICAL INVESTING

By Stuart Graham

Warren Buffet, the world’s second wealthiest man, built his 44 billion dollar fortune by investing in simple, well run and honest companies. How would Buffet, known as the Sage of Omaha for his financial wisdom, have fared in South Africa?

Buffet bought the struggling Omaha-based textile company Berkshire in 1965 by buying companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Gilette, and turned it into a giant worth around 140 billion dollars.
“When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business,” Buffet says.

Berkshire has been praised for its corporate governance in an era when a number of companies around the world, such as Enron, Arthur Andersen and Parmalat have been accused of crooking their books and defrauding shareholders.

Would Buffet have been able to spot a Brett Kebble company, or a Leisurenet or a Tigon?
Mining magnate, Kebble, was assassinated in 2005. He is accused of defrauding shareholders of millions of rands. The directors of fitness company Leisurenet and financial services company Tigon have also been accused of defrauding their shareholders.

Asset manager Piet Viljoen of Regarding Capital Management has been to a few of Buffet’s annual general meetings in the United States and tries to follow his investment philosophies.

Like Buffet, he invests for the long term and he keeps his approach honest and simple.

Viljoen says Buffet takes various factors into account before he buys into a company.

“There are any number of signs of whether there is a problem with the company or not,” Viljoen says.

“Numbers always tell a story. Buffet would closely examine about four or five years worth of annual reports before he decided to pick up the phone and contact the CEO or owners of the company. If there were any discrepancies he would pick them up.”

Buffet looks very closely at a company's’ annual report. Does it bleat about its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization and fill the report with footnotes?

When an executive can accurately predict his future earnings for the year, it strongly suggests that something is being manipulated somewhere, Buffet says.

The US company Enron, whose management stole millions of dollars from shareholders, showed many of these signs.

Something else Buffet looks at is the frugality of management.

Is it filled with spendthrifts? Does the management award itself excessive salaries and over inflated bonuses and share options?

In 2003 Buffet’s salary was a mere 100,000 dollars. That year the average compensation for a chief executive officer was two million dollars.

He continues to live in the same house in Omaha he bought in 1958 for 31,500 dollars. Once he was reported to have made his daughter write him a cheque for 20 dollars when she borrowed money to pay for her airport parking.

Despite his frugality, he is generous. In July Buffett said he would about 37 billion dollars to foundations run by his the Bill Gates and by the Buffett family. His announcement was hailed as the biggest-ever single act of philanthropy in the United States.

Buffet would most likely have seen straight through Kebble just by looking at his flamboyant lifestyle.
Viljoen says there are various signs, “each with a peculiarity of its own” that tell an investor whether or not the company is worth investing in.

“The reputation of a management is very important in an investor’s decision making process,” he says. “But sometimes gold plated taps in boardrooms and management driving fancy cars doesn’t always tell the whole story. There is no real checklist. Sometimes you can pick it up, sometimes you can’t.”

Which South African companies would Buffet chose to buy for Berkshire Hathaway?

Viljoen says Buffet would pick simple brand companies like Tigerbrands, or beverage and media businesses.
Andrew Dalby, an investor with the Marriott Unit Trust Management Company, says in South Africa most of the larger companies tend to show strong corporate governance and ethics that would get Buffet’s stamp of approval.

He mentions Standard Bank as an example and Bidvest. A number of the larger property companies are also very honest, he says.

“If you look at the track record of some South African companies and use corporate governance checklists as a guide, then you can use Brian Joffe (Bidvest CEO) as an example,” Dalby says. “He is very talented entrepreneur.”

Dalby says that it is impossible to tick every little corporate governance box when deciding to invest in a company.

“If you look at Enron, that company probably passed all the corporate governance checklists and it could be listed, but in the end it was run by a bunch of crooks. In the end, you have got to trust the management. And as a shareholder I want to know that I am going to get money back.” – Heartlines Features