Investigating the effect of ethical leadership on effectiveness : a case study on the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan

Abstract

Themba Khumalo in a letter to the Business Day on 29 October 2013 writes: ―Sometime in July I went for late Saturday morning shopping with two friends in a Pretoria mall. Out of the blue there was a minister sitting and eating his breakfast in a modest restaurant. We scanned the place and its surroundings for bodyguards who could be protecting the man – as is the norm with Cabinet ministers wherever they go. But there wasn‟t even a tending personal assistant ready at hand to pay the bill or perform some other little chore for the minister‟s convenience‖. He continues to state that: ―My friends and I concluded that Pravin Gordhan was a true exponent of Barry White‟s “Practice What You Preach” music piece‖. According to Khumalo he was informed by a friend that Minister Gordhan was seen at OR Tambo International Airport standing in the queue with other passengers with no security personnel or assistants escorting him. Khumalo states that: ―He is an exemplary epitome of modesty and we pray that South Africans follows suit. Here‟s someone who was among the patriots who pulled South Africa back from the precipice at the Codesa negotiations, saving the country yet again from the edge of self-destruction through extravagance‖. The researcher applied a case study methodology to highlight aspects pertaining to Minister Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan‘s ethical framework and how this influences his effectiveness as a leader in government.