LSAL 2023: “Cultivating the leader within”

The Leadership Summit for Aspiring Leaders (LSAL), hosted by the Centre for Student Leadership, Experiential Education and Citizenship (CSLEEC) on 29 July, challenged the way students view the idea of leadership. Many students may believe that stepping into a university leadership role means that you have to be the loudest person in the room, the one with the most academic accolades or had to have been in prominent leadership positions in high school. LSAL challenged these preconceptions and suggested that anyone can learn and refine the qualities required of a leader. These qualities, proposed by Prof. Zeblon Vilakazi (Vicechancellor and Principal of the University of Witwatersrand), are “humility, having humanity and humour”. Humility, in a leadership role, allows a person to avoid hubris and pride. Having humanity creates an environment for different people of different backgrounds to connect with one another. Finally, humour assists a person in taking their job seriously but not themselves seriously. Prof. Vilakazi drew attention to the value of humour as an aid to understand that criticism of a person’s job is not something personal when he said, “It is not about the man but the office.”

Criticism is a fundamental aspect of leadership as it facilitates the refining process of the qualities of humility, humanity and humour.

The theme of LSAL 2023 was ‘Cultivating the leader within us’, which championed the idea that anyone can be a leader and the qualities required for such a position can be developed and honed. Prof. Vilakazi mentioned that a lot of people think that having courage as a leader means you are tough. In reality it is about having the heart to take on the biggest problems.

The discussion then shifted to student panellists who discussed the topic, ‘How do I make sense of a culture I step into?’ Caitlin Sithole (2023 Tygerberg Student Representative Council (TSRC) Vice Chair) said , “We, in essence, are the institutional culture and we play a role in it. Institutional culture can be both a barrier and a way of change.” Nina Hugo, former Chairperson of the United Nations Association South Africa (UNASA) Stellenbosch chapter, added, “The stakeholders that develop and change the institutional culture at SU are the students.” Emma Bowers Swart, Chairperson of the Academic Affairs Council (AAC) commented, “The university has made great strides but it is only the beginning.”

Edwina Brooks, director of Student Development at the University of Cape Town (UCT), said, “If we do not do the work to address inequalities and institutional culture, the future is at stake.” Addressing these issues will serve to strengthen the institution and its culture. It was discussed that the institutional culture of SU needs context. SU has had a history in line with South Africa where racism, discrimination and prejudice were once at the heart of the institution. The event allowed the different groups to discuss three key questions: Why would some people not choose to come to leadership events such as LSAL? What problems do current leaders face? What do you do if the institution’s values do not align with your morals?

During the discussion, students also came up with solutions to the problems they listed. This cultivated an environment where healthy communication could be fostered to enable students to work together to find solutions to problems that plague institutional culture. It illustrated that students from different backgrounds with different views of life could come together and find solutions together. The closing speaker, Rukshana Parker, Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans 2023 nominee in the category ‘Education’ and private law lecturer at SU, offered words of encouragement. “You do not need a title to make a difference,” she told the students. Student do not necessarily need to serve on formal leadership bodies such as our residences’ House Committees or the Student Representative Council (SRC) in order to address issues affecting our community. “Leadership emerges from the qualities you exhibit everyday, Parker continued, “All you have to do is try.”

The key message of the event was therefore that students should take note of their weaknesses but grow their strengths – the rest will fall into place. Not everyone will step into a leadership position but anyone can make a change.

It’s the hot topic of current world affairs: Climate change is happening now, and it is worse than we ever could have imagined. The science behind it is irrefutable, and it is now widely known that the worst effects of climate collapse will be felt by the most vulnerable communities, who did almost nothing to contribute to climate change itself.

Luckily, there are groups of people who are working tirelessly to re-imagine and create a future for South Africa. One of these groups is The Climate Justice Charter Movement, who launched a book titled People’s and Workers’ Climate Justice Charter: Futures for South Africa

The book launch event was held at Heemstede Residence on 26 July, in collaboration with Stellenbosch University (SU) students, SDG/2063 Impact Hub, Social Impact and Facilities Management. In the panel discussion, Dr Matthew Wingfield posed many thought-provoking questions to Professor Vishwas Satgar, co-founder of the Climate Justice Charter Movement, Kayleigh Murray, a Master’s student studying the impact of climate change on quiver tree populations, and Aphiwe Sithole, SRC Sustainability and Social Impact at SU.

Professor Guy Midgely, director of the SU School for Climate Studies, opened the event with a speech and commented that the book is “challenging and confrontational,” adding,