Servicing the Community Debt

About the Book

The book asserts that the most realistic way for South Africa to successfully free itself from the legacies of apartheid is to meet two fundamental conditions: under-privileged communities must meaningfully embrace learning and workplaces must be turned into places of optimal value-creation. It also argues that a critical ingredient needed to accomplish this is a new spirit of leadership championed by communities. The author cautions that South Africa should follow a courageous path of making what works to work, instead of allowing itself to be overwhelmed by the negative power of what is wrong. He also points out that while corruption and incompetence are real and need decisive action, unbridled self-interest and hubris in various forms are also very serious threats which, although more difficult to remedy, require both competent leadership and effective strategies to bring under control. The book calls for a courageous new age of knowledge consciousness where ignorance is replaced by enlightenment, facilitated by leaders who do not just inspire momentary excitement in people, but who can practically educate people to embrace learning and practice real patriotism on a sustainable basis. It advocates a three-phase human capital development strategy based on the principles of consciousness, responsibility and competence, which can assist people to achieve significance in their lives.

About the Author

Gibson Sakong was born at Moletlane, a rural village in Zebediela, Limpopo, South Africa. He spent the first twenty-two years of his life in the village, where his main activities were looking after animals, attending school and participating in soccer. Sakong has been a security practitioner in the gold mining industry for more than twenty years and has more than ten years of operational and strategic management experience. He obtained a National Diploma and a B-Tech Degree in Security Risk Management through correspondence from Unisa. Sakong rose through the ranks of the security discipline hierarchy and currently holds the position of Corporate Security Manager for a multi-national mining company based in Johannesburg. Sakong is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Montshepetja Academy, a talent management organisation that promotes the value of balancing technical skills with knowledge consciousness in the field of human capital development. His personal areas of interest are strategy, leadership, management, mentorship and community development. Sakong`s hobbies include reading, writing and soccer.