Read the first instalment here

2. Exodus

The best stories are full of symbolism.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars, The Lion King, and the Harry Potter saga are essentially the same story. Our hero, through unexpected circumstance, is forced to undertake a quest. He acquires unexpected allies to assist him, goes through a journey (which is essentially one of self-discovery), suffers loss and betrayal, has a revelation of sorts, and ultimately destroys the ring or blows up the Death Star or drives out the hyenas or defeats Voldemort.

The ancient Indian epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata follow this pattern. So too do the myths of Theseus and the Minotaur, Perseus and Cetus, Jason and the Argonauts…

For my part, even though I’m an atheist, I love the symbolism in the Old Testament (which, in different forms, is the root of Judaism, Christianity and Islam). The simplicity of its core ideas gives it power that endures across eons.

Take the Ten Commandments: Almost anyone can relate to the idea of 10 simple rules, or principles, by which to live one’s life.

But there’s an interesting quirk about such lists of principles; while people recognise the list as a whole, some items on the list are actually more important as cultural memes than others.

Try this with your friends: Ask them whether they have heard of the Ten Commandments. The answer will inevitably be yes. Then ask them to name them. I doubt many people will get beyond a few like, “thou shalt not kill”, “thou shalt not steal”, “thou shalt not commit adultery”.

The US Bill of Rights, too, is ten commandments of sorts. Most people know the first, second amendment, and fifth amendments but draw a blank about the other seven amendments.

I already had my core three values, or principles, or commandments — “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. I needed to find competent people who shared those core values and were willing to join me on this damn fool quest.

I had my first job as a journalist at age 19. I was running a news desk at age 24, and every position I’ve held since then has involved a leadership role.

I say “leadership” and not “management” because those are very different things. One can “manage” a call centre, or cashiers at a supermarket, or bricklayers, or a fleet of truck drivers — those jobs follow well-defined scripts with well-defined outcomes. One cannot “manage” a team of journalists, or scientists, or radio presenters, or surgeons. They need to be mavericks — independent-minded unorthodox persons who understand the rules but will interpret those rules very differently from the way their leader does.

So my co-conspirators (as I had already begun to think of them) would need to be intellectual peers, not subordinates. As a close friend of mine is fond of saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

I began jotting down some names. Interestingly, some of them I had never met. I knew them from their public utterances, pieces they had written, and (of course) social media.

There was a doctor based in KwaZulu-Natal known for her outspoken views on healthcare. There was a fashion designer in Cape Town who worked on UN matters. There were a couple of prominent media personalities who are also successful entrepreneurs. There was a product of Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative programme who was already making her mark globally. There was an investigative journalist who is known for her exposés of atrocities. There was a businessperson who had set up shop in his home town of Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape.

There was only one person on the list who was a personal friend, a former journalist turned property group executive based in Cape Town.

But my starting point was to be talking to two people who were almost polar opposites.

First, Roman Cabanac (who prefers to refer to himself as a “legal consultant” rather than a lawyer).

I had come across Roman on Twitter where he was clearly a troll, but one who did so with unusual insight. In 2016, he co-founded a podcast called the Renegade Report, and I was the second guest to be invited to the show.

Over the next period, two significant things happened in Roman’s life: He turned 30, and he became a father.

I remember circa 2004 telling my then boss, ETV CEO Marcel Golding, that we only really grow up when we become parents. (He didn’t believe me at the time, but I know he does now having had twins when he turned 50.)

So it was with Roman. His views became more nuanced. He became more focused on solving problems. And it was clear he took great delight in being a very present father in his daughter’s life. And the quality levels of his conversations on the Renegade Report podcast grew accordingly (to the point where it is our country’s most downloaded weekly podcast).

Second, Neo Kuaho, who I best describe as a successful serial entrepreneur.

I met Neo in around 2008 when I was CEO of Yired (Pty) Ltd which owns YFM. He had cold-called me at my office with an idea to set up a digital portal providing information about paid internship opportunities for graduates and scholarships for school leavers. I gave him the time of day because he knew how to code, which immediately set him apart from the literally hundreds of people who pitched ideas to me every week.

I was intrigued by the idea and so gave him a radio slot between 8am-9am on a Saturday morning. The YFM audience is usually asleep at that time, so it would be an opportunity to create appointment listening for those who were serious about moving their lives forward. The show became a relative hit.

A few years later, I launched a competition called the Y Business Elevator. It was a programme to incubate startups by providing them with many of the essentials that players in the information economy need: Office space, internet connectivity, financial oversight, and free advertising on air. It was a no-brainer for me because these were all sunken costs for the business, but could mean live or die for a startup.

I enlisted Neo’s assistance as an unpaid volunteer to drive the selection process and he did so with great fervour. When the two winning candidates emerged, he personally mentored them through the support period until they had found their feet and struck out on their own.

At the time, I was so impressed by Neo’s work ethic and dedication that I mentioned to him that he should run for president one day. He chuckled then, saying that he was too young.

I had my conversations with Roman and Neo in quick succession. I fleshed out the essence of the principles of the party which would guide us. They were both swayed by the audacity of the idea. And they agreed to recruit others to our cause.

Next week: Jedi Mind Trick

(Were you expecting Leviticus?) DM