There are many valuable lessons that politicians can learn from football, but one particular example came this week from former SA Under-23 part-time coach David Notoane.
He announced his resignation, albeit in dramatic fashion, on Robert Marawa's Marawa Sports Worldwide show, which is streamed on SowetanLIVE, after failing to guide the team to the Nations Cup in Morocco later this year. Had the team qualified, they would compete for a place in next year's Olympics in Paris, France.
“We failed in the call of duty to serve the country and therefore we failed millions of people. It's a huge dishonour to South African football and we apologise to the people of the country,” Notoane said, reading from his resignation statement on air.
Our political leaders whose failures have been far more pronounced over the years could learn something from this. The big lesson is in the art of knowing when to gracefully leave rather than wait to be pushed. This lesson should also go to the politicians in charge of the SA Football Association.
By no means do we want to suggest that Notoane is a hero who needs to be celebrated for his poor performance — whatever he attributes this to. But his example of stepping down can reshape our thinking around how our political leaders ought to lead and then leave office.
This can also serve as an important reminder that leaders are not in office to serve themselves but the people and when they let them down, the honourable thing is to take full responsibility. The very essence of being a leader requires one to do good for others and your country.
But it is hard to imagine the words uttered by Notoane coming out of the mouth of a politician in SA because in politics, stepping down voluntarily is seen as a sign of weakness rather than honour.
In many ways the idea of politicians accepting responsibility for their failure is foreign in our politics. It is rather framed as a moment when one needs to show they are a warrior and resist the temptation of wanting to throw in a towel.
Notoane's example therefore challenges us to rewrite the rule book in politics, set the bar high and raise expectations on our leaders.
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