Motlanthe urges leaders to treat power as a public trust, invoking Walter Sisulu

According to The Citizen, former president Kgalema Motlanthe warned political leaders that power is a public trust and can be taken away, urging them to follow the selfless example of Walter Sisulu.

Warning to those in authority

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe cautioned those in authority to remember that political power is held in trust on behalf of the people and can be taken away.

According to The Citizen, he made the remarks while speaking at the second Walter Sisulu Memorial Lecture at the Vaal University of Technology, where he cited Sisulu’s approach to leadership and noted that the late struggle icon never saw office as representing personal power or compensation for suffering.

“After decades of exclusion from political power, he did not treat public office as personal reward.”

Freedom as a practice

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe said freedom is not simply the removal of oppressive government but the creation of political, social and human relationships in which people can shape their common life.

“Freedom means recognition of necessity; freedom is therefore not a possession secured once and for all; it is a practice.”

Tribute to the Rivonia triallists

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe paid tribute to the Rivonia triallists, including Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela, saying they made immense sacrifices and were prepared for death sentences.

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe said the triallists’ willingness to face death with dignity “reversed the moral relationship between judge and accused” and placed the state before the conscience of humanity.

On Sisulu’s style of leadership

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe described Sisulu’s leadership as enlarging the capacity of others and rooted in responsibility to the people rather than distance from them.

“Sisulu’s greatness was relational; his leadership enlarged the capacity of others. His dignity was expressed not through distance from the people but through responsibility towards them.”

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe added that Sisulu “knew how to lead in the dark, knowing just where the spark is and how strong it must be struck. He understood that the real work is the work no one sees and that earns no remark.”

According to The Citizen, Motlanthe quoted Nelson Mandela’s remark that Sisulu “led from behind” and said leadership reaches its highest form not when it produces leaders, but when it enlarges collective purpose.