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What Is Servant Leadership In Africa

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My essay will be looking at servant leadership in the continent of Africa and how effective it has been. In the past few decades after countries in Africa seized being under colonial rule, there has been a misconstrued notion that “All leaders in Africa are corrupt” and that it struggles heavily with ethical leadership. It cannot be denied that certain leaders in African countries have made questionable decisions but the same can be said for many other leaders in different continents. My thesis aims to uncover that there are leaders in the continent that do adopt the concept of Servant Leadership. If I was to say servant leader and Africa in the same sentence I am sure the first name that will come to mind is Nelson Mandela. A man globally known for his fight against apartheid in South Africa and his compassionate personality and dedication to the African people’s struggle.
UBUNTU
In order to touch upon Servant Leadership in the African context I would need to start with an African philosophy that coincides greatly with servant leadership, Ubuntu. The word “Ubuntu” has many definitions but it roughly translates to “human kindness to others”. A complex word from the Nguni language, it is about committing selfless acts (Thompsell, 2016). …show more content…

The President is meant to put serving the people first before their own interests. When Tanzania recently had a change in Presidency to John Magufuli, a number of changes happened very swiftly. Magufuli started by cutting his own salary as he felt it was unnecessary for him to be getting so much money in the current economic state Tanzania is in. He made a conscious choice to cause change and growth in the people of Tanzania. This leadership act he committed was effective in producing a different mind set within the Tanzanian people in that they are now ready to be more active and participate in changing what is wrong with the

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