INSIDE MANDELA'S HEART: LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE FOR AFRICA
Political analysts are wont to argue that, the mass in a democracy are like boats on the volatile sea without a guide and that leadership shapes society and consequently determines leadership expectations. This is an argument to the effect that the process of leadership recruitment makes or mares a democracy. In African democracies, there is a disconnection between the rulers and the ruled leading to political economic distress of African nations. This paper argues that, African nations can truly develop only when the leadership question is rightly settled. Drawing lessons from the Madiba Mandela, we argue the thesis that, without comprehension, mental magnitude, spiritual depth, selflessness and incorruptibility; the core indigenous African leadership qualities that defined the Mandela persona, our long walk to democratic consolidation will ever remain a distant dream. A conclusion is here argued that, there is need for a revolution in the aims and methods of power engineering, so that the basic aim becomes the promotion of socially, economically and politically important desires of man; the promotion of wisdom in leadership by rational means, not by knowledge means. Such is argued as the new Africa of the Twenty-First Century. That African leaders must not only possess the capacity and ability to appreciate and grasp the salient details as well as most of the practical and temporal implications of a given problem or situation, they must be prepared to lead and live by personal example as did the Madiba.
Keywords: