THE OR TAMBO SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP'S

RUTH FIRST LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

The OR Tambo School of Leadership is set to launch a 3-year leadership development programme called the Ruth First Leadership Development (RFLDP). This flagship programme is designed to cultivate young people into servant leaders for social change through the fusion of political theory and community-based practical experience.

At the core, the programme seeks to capacitate and empower young people to lead in decision-making processes, which will enable them to take up leadership responsibilities and execute them with distinction for purposes of socioeconomic transformation. During the RFLDP participants will be equipped with tools to analyse society to better respond to the socioeconomic challenges experienced today.

The programme is named after Ruth First - a prolific journalist, political activist, and revolutionary scholar who dedicated most of her life to the struggle against apartheid – because it seeks to develop and reproduce capable, committed, responsible, and patriotic young South Africans to carry and continue with the legacies of freedom fighters and stalwarts such as Ruth First.

One is eligible to apply for the RFLDP if they are between the ages of 18 and 40 years. Furthermore, they must have completed Introduction to Political Studies, which is an online course comprising four introductory modules, namely: History of South Africa and the ANC; Building the ANC Organisation; Government; Economic Development.

The course is offered free of charge and can be accessed on the School’s website (www.ortamboschool.org.za). During the selection process, special consideration will be given to young progressive activists, particularly members of the structures of the Progressive Youth Alliance.

Over the three years of RFLDP participants will be expected to complete at least two advanced OR Tambo School Strategic Courses per year, meaning a total of six courses in three years. To advance to the next phase of the programme, participants are required to attend at least 80 of the classroom sessions, complete and pass their assessments, and submit a portfolio of a community project which they will be expected to design as part of their assessment. The integration of political theory and revolutionary practice is an important part of the RFLDP.

The application process has been open from the 12th of March 2023 to the 12th of May 2023. So far, the School has received over 450 applications from all nine provinces in South Africa. The selection process will commence immediately after the application deadline, and applicants will receive responses from the School whether they have been accepted into the programme by the end of May 2023.

Once the selection process is done, successful applicants will be inducted and orientated into the programme, and classes are set to commence no later than July 2023. These classes will be conducted by a team of qualified, experienced, and accredited course facilitators identified and trained by the School.

The programme will be carried out in partnership with the School’s partners and key stakeholders which include the provincial and regional structures of the African National Congress (ANC), the University of Johannesburg, the University of South Africa Enterprise, and the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung South Africa to ensure the optimal intended positive impact on the young participants in the programme, and more broadly, in society.

The official launch of the RFLDP is set to take place during youth month (June). The induction and orientation of participants into the programme will commence at the launch. The facilitators of the programme will also be announced at the official launch. The launch will be hosted in a hybrid manner to accommodate those who will be unable to physically attend. The School is expecting over 500 attendees at the launch which include selected participants, facilitators, management of the School, board members and special guests.

The RFLDP is part of the OR Tambo School of Leadership’s core mandate of massifying, modernising, and professionalising political education and training to develop and reproduce cadres for social change. The School firmly believes that this programme will positively impact the young people of this country and society in general.

Through this flagship programme, the School seeks to cement itself as a centre of excellence for political education and training. Moreover, the School seeks to optimise its contribution in fast tracking the organisational renewal process of the ANC by cultivating servant, responsible, ethical and patriotic young leaders, some of whom occupy strategic positions in the structures of the ANC, its alliance partners, and the broader mass democratic movement.

Political education and training are without a doubt an integral part of renewing the ANC into a better organisation that is able to reclaim its historic position of being a leader of society and through the RDLDP, the School is set to play its active and impactful role in advancing the renewal agenda in the year of decisive action to advance the people’s interests and renew our movement as declared by the ANC in its January 8 statement at the beginning of 2023.

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