The Big Elephant in the Room: Lack of Ubuntu in Leadership, an Undiscussed Problem in the South African Public Sector

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22689160

Karabo Mokganya and John Ntshaupe Molepo (Department of Public Affairs, Faculty of Humanities, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa)

There is a huge trace of literature and media discourse on the affairs of government that has sought to understand the causes of poor governance, lack of accountability, and unethical leadership. These challenges seem to have overlooked the root cause. The taxpayers do not get value from their tax money due to the recurring abuse of public resources. This challenge is not only unique to South Africa but a major concern, notably in Africa. This paper argues that there is a big elephant in the room that is overlooked in leadership, but not in marrying ubuntu and leadership. Ubuntu promotes humanness, compassion, and ethical duty to others. The has been several studies on leadership, but most of them did not clearly link leadership with Ubuntu. The paper contends that leaders who do not have Ubuntu are likely to harm service delivery as they may display a lack of empathy, a lack of accountability, and a lack of moral commitment to their followers and the public. This paper is not empirical as it uses theoretical analysis to demonstrate the gap between Ubuntu and leadership, as it shows how the absence of Ubuntu adds to a systemic failure of governance. The paper seeks to re-conceptualize Ubuntu as an important moral and philosophical framework that can bring about a change in the affairs of government. The article suggests a call to embrace Ubuntu in leadership as it cultivates humility, integrity, accountability, ethical leadership, and good governance.