Abstract:

The practice of leadership is not only as old as human civilization, but universal among human communities. Perhaps, the only difference is the leadership guiding ideology and type of leadership in a given community at a given point or period of time. In ancient Africa leadership has always been guided by Ubuntu philosophical framework in which collectivisation and mutual coexistence among other guiding principles take prominence. This leadership approach, has ensured long term survival of many kingdoms such as the Mutapa and the Rozvi Kingdoms in Zimbabwe. The ancient monuments, great civilizations, the great pyramids of Ancient Egypt, the stone monuments of Great Zimbabwe, and the emergence of the Zulu state among others, and true social and economic progress, are all evidence that there has been strong leadership practice guided by a strong human Ubuntu ideological framework on the continent. When leaders became ‘bigger than the ideological framework guiding their existence-Ubuntu in this case’, their kingdoms crumbled as in the case of the Mutapa state, Chirisamhuru’s Rozvi State, the Zulu under Tshaka, and so on. This paper, through personal observations and literature review, interrogates contemporary leadership and its relationship with the Ubuntu guiding philosophy in Africa using Zimbabwe as a case study.

Keywords:

Ubuntu, Contemporary, Political, Community Leadership.