Ramaphosa's virtuous betrayal?

James Krantz* writes beautifully how important it is for leaders to have the courage to betray personal relationships and expectations when required. If you are the one in charge, you will sometimes have to make decisions that will upset some of your closest allies in order to do what is best for the team, business or country that you are leading. President Ramaphosa has started this process, but it is clear that it will not get any easier as the realisation sets in that corruption is systemic - meaning that it is impossible to root it out by only focusing on the individuals that get caught out.

A radical transformation of how the ANC views itself and its place in the world is needed. If the mindset is, “I am the leader, I fought the struggle, so I deserve power and prestige”, then corruption will continue and the powerful will have to consolidate power and persecute any opposition. But if the mindset is, “I am the leader, I will continue to serve and fight for the benefit of all”, then people will start to call each other out if they betray the central philosophy.
 
To betray (call out, not promote, not award a tender to, retrench) an ally in service of the primary task and ethos of the organisation is incredibly painful and difficult. To do so when the primary task and ethos of the organisation is almost unrecognisably distorted by different and contradicting assumptions that are rooted deeply in a traumatised past, is impossible if not done alongside a concerted systemic effort at radically transforming the mind of the organisation.
 
* Krantz, James (2006). Leadership, betrayal and adaptation. Human Relations. Feb 2006; 59, 2