I am proud to announce that Adriaan Groenewald has volunteered to serve as ActionSA’s independent Chief Leadership Officer. This is the first step that ActionSA will be taking to entrench a culture of ethical leadership in our party as we prepare to govern in 2021 and beyond.

With tonight’s SONA expected to be another litany of empty promises and hollow commitments from a corrupt and incompetent government, South Africa needs ethical leaders and professional public servants to get our country on the right track. That is why ActionSA will be working through Adriaan to access to the best leadership expertise and support systems available.

Adriaan’s appointment is central to our efforts to prepare ActionSA leaders to govern, and forms part of our larger Training and Development Program ahead of the 2021 Local Government Elections (LGE). He will be leading a programme to raise the leadership instincts of our leaders to the conscious level, and to ensure that our leaders become and remain leadership fit. Consistent and regular Leadership Development will become mission critical and a way of life in ActionSA.

One of the greatest challenges facing a new – in fact any political party – is to develop depth and quality of leadership. As ActionSA we therefore resolved to prioritise leadership training and development as a core organisational value. This will ensure that we are prepared to hit the ground running after the LGE later this year.

We refuse to forget and abandon the leadership heritage that ensured our globally recognised miracle in 1994. We commit that when ActionSA takes over we will:

• Have a healthy and strong leadership culture;
• Have a depth of confident leaders, with a deep understanding of authentic and ethical leadership and how to generate successful movement;
• Have leaders with the relevant technical expertise;
• Have leaders that are authentically converted to our set of universal values; and
• Have leaders that strive to consistently be their best selves.

The result of this not happening in the past is that South Africans – especially the most vulnerable – are suffering incalculable damage and distrust, and are facing an uncertain future. There is a groundswell of unhappiness in our beautiful country about the state of the civil service and the governance of our municipalities, as well as at the provincial and national levels.

We acknowledge that there are thousands of honest and quality citizens currently working in government that want to make a difference, but in many cases they are being held back by incompetent and unethical leadership. We join with them in recognizing that the collective leadership culture urgently needs strong, ethical and authentic leadership from top to bottom, to unite and to move South Africa forward with speed. Time is not on our side.

Adriaan’s appointment reflects ActionSA’s commitment to growing a culture of ethical leadership and professional public service in South Africa, a critical requirement to making progress as a country. Now, more than ever, we need our leaders to take their thinking, leading and relationships to a whole new level.