Views on youth leadership challenges in South Africa


Dr Magda Hewitt – Programme Leader: Leadership Programmes. Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, Faculty of Management, University of Johannesburg


T


he Leadership crisis in Africa came in the public eye when young people with mutual information, strategies and knowledge stood up against the regimes (Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Bahrain) that ruled them for decades – the Arab Spring. Daily, many concerns about the South African youth are expressed by various bodies such as government organisations, parents, schools, media and the church. Their attitudes, values, behaviour and in general their future-fit leadership qualities are questioned.


The question can be asked, “If the youth of today is any different than the youth of yesterday?” Eric Ericson (16th century) viewed the youth of his time as being in a period of role experimentation, of


profound alienation from the adult world. He saw them as trying to order their perception of the world through a moral stance. It is a time he believes, that they bond together with their peers to form a sub-culture separate from the predominant culture.


Young people today are


more empowered, have more knowledge, know their rights and can gain access to unknown information faster than before. Many of them have more information than those teaching them. Challenges knocking on the youth’s doors are abortion, homosexuality, poverty, capitalism, gender, sexuality, genetic engineering,


50 Management Today | June 2012


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