146 Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Leaders for the Future
and idealism, to be, at times above the fray, and help guide the
nation in its most difficult moments (Pityana, 2012:7).”
It is not unusual that poor leaders are often without intelligence, poor
readers of human character, who govern by fear and distrust and are
ruthless to opposing views. Such leaders never act with an ethical
impulse but are often driven by self-preservation.
But leaders are also “entrepreneurs” who make something out of
nothing, bring out the best in others and create a “buy-in” by others into
the common pot of ideas. But the “entrepreneurship” must be driven by
ideals, if it is not to be merely commonsensical or commodification of
material wants. It should be less about the self in interests and
enrichment, or merely of those close and dear to one, but genuinely “the
common good”. That common good must also derive from the context
and real-life situations of those who are to be beneficiaries. In a place
where the greatest social challenge is poverty and unemployment and
inequality, then surely the common drive has to be devoted to finding
ways and means of addressing those challenges to the benefit of the
people.
This paper is written against the background of unprecedented
student protests in South Africa since the onset of the democratic state in
1994 and the end of apartheid. The protests have engulfed virtually all
higher education institutions. The protests began in March 2015 at the
University of Cape Town as a protest against racism on campus,. It was
a call for the decolonization of the university in its symbols and images,
teaching, curricula, and to establish a university environment that is not
alienating to black students especially, but also to women, but also one
that is welcoming and friendly if it is to encourage and promote
effective study, teaching and learning. The protests that began,
characteristically as #RhodesMustFall ended the year with a spirited
campaign #FeesMustFall calling for free higher education. Cecil John
Rhodes, the benefactor of the University of Cape Town was a notorious