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Iris Francis is determined to make a differenceIris Francis is the corporate social responsibility manager for the McCarthy Group, and is determined to make a difference.
Chatting to Francis at OR Tambo International Airport, it was made very clear that this woman has absolutely no interest in affirmative action. She does not see her appointment as an AA sinecure, though being the daughter of a Zulu chief (albeit one who had to struggle to assert his claim to chiefdom) was probably an advantage.
Be that as it may, she sees herself as having a difference to make, and she is determined to make it.
Her view on empowerment has nothing to do with shares or money. “People just don’t have a clue what things are like at grassroots level.
“Empowerment is not about flashy cars or influential posts. There are millions of South Africans who do not have access to the most basic services. A single electric light bulb means that previously disadvantaged (really disadvantaged, not just a glib cliché) people have access to the means to educate themselves and begin the process of becoming truly empowered. It makes the world of difference, as it opens up the world for them,” says Francis.
Her Rally to Read campaign is addressing the curse of illiteracy at the very basic level. Fully supported by McCarthy chief executive officer Brand Pretorius, Francis shamelessly uses the McCarthy Group’s resources and vehicles to get books and other reading material to the remotest of rural areas. On occasion, she and her team have to overnight in accommodation that would not even rate a satellite, let alone a star. But this is what she wants.
Should any member of her team find this a bit uncomfortable, she is quick to point out that the inconvenience and discomfort is for one night – there are people who have to put up with no lights, no running water and a lumpy bed (if they are lucky) 24/7/365 – so it really is not that great a sacrifice.
A child of the Struggle, she cites her mother as the main source for her inspiration. She held down three jobs to ensure that Francis and her 13 siblings (and more often than not, the 40-odd half-brothers and sisters from her father’s other traditionally acquired wives) were fed, clothed and educated.
She recalls the sight of her mother leaving for her first job at 03h30 on a winter’s morning and telling her to ensure that the washing (which already had been washed) was hung out at sunrise and the veggies (that already had been prepared) were cooked.
Yet, her mother was an eternal optimist. “We must not forget how easy it is for us. We have to try to make it easier for others.”
In her quest to make this difference, she credits the leadership of Pretorius. “There is a vast difference between managers and leaders: managers sustain and maintain systems; leaders inspire and offer vision and empowerment to those whom they lead.
“They have courage and integrity – they are the people I would follow into any situation and would work through any obstacles once I have bought into that vision,” Francis says. “They are few and far between – we all know about Madiba and the massive sacrifices he made to ensure that South Africa is a better place. But I would consider the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal S’bu Ndebele to be such a leader. He is not in the press every day, but his quiet dignity, integrity and courage have ensured that KZN is a better place now than it was five or 10 years ago.
“When he speaks, he does not use a teleprompter or notes on his hand à la Sarah Palin. He speaks from his heart and inspires with real integrity,” she adds.
“I remember him addressing us after a somewhat lackluster rendition of the national anthem. He really tore a strip off us and reminded us in no uncertain terms that the anthem was not just a string of words, but an expression of the soul of the nation.”
Francis continues: “If you look at what the ‘frenzy’ of the 2010 World Cup has done for the infrastructure of the province, the evidence of his leadership is clear. The stadium is a focal point, but the Durban Beachfront has been totally transformed and is now a place in which we can have pride instead of a muted shame.
“The airport is another example: not just a concrete block, it really says ‘Welcome to the Kingdom of the Zulu’ loudly and proudly.
“Nelspruit’s airport says ‘Welcome to game-lodge country’ – ours says ‘This is KwaZulu-Natal’. People are coming here from all over the world – they want to experience true Zulu hospitality; not the hotel experience they can get in any other city in the world – that’s what the redevelopment of the province is all about. From the airport to the promenade to uShaka Marine World, people are reminded at every turn that this is Africa, but more specifically, this is the home of the Zulu nation,” she says.
“That’s why I am such an advocate of township tours. Not only do they create opportunities for local enterprise and job creation; they also allow visitors to experience a taste of how we live from day to day. More than just the curios (which they could buy at the airport, anyway) they will take back a true look and feel of the fabric of our society.”
But Francis did not have things easy, either. As one would imagine, growing up as one of 13 children (and one of 40 in an extended family), silver spoons were not to be found in many of the mouths – in fact, a spoon of any description was quite a luxury.
However, like the 12 other women identified by Wilna Botha in her new book, Burning Bright: Extraordinary Women of KwaZulu-Natal, Francis did not allow a less-than-affluent background or upbringing hamper her progress. If anything, it was a spur to achievement.
She had an understanding of what her father was doing as a Struggle stalwart and lived through the dark days of KZN in the early 1990s when civil war seemed to be the most likely outcome.
She recalls the number of “Whites Only” signs that he cut down on an almost daily basis – he was credited as having opened the facilities in KZN to all its people. The saw that her father used and some of the signs form part of a heritage display in the Durban Museum.
She further remembers hearing Madiba’s words as he attempted to bring peace to the warring factions and was aware that under his leadership, supported by men such as her father, South Africa would have a future worth striving for.
Opportunities for further education opened up in the ‘90s and Francis embraced these with open arms and ensured that she never would be regarded as under-educated.
She never has ascribed to the ‘poor me’ syndrome: “I am who I am. This is me. This is all I have to work with and I’m going to make the most of it.”
The success of Rally to Read is testimony to exactly how seriously she takes this self-imposed mission. The statistics can be perused on www.rallytoread.co.za.
Once again, Francis credits the momentum behind the project to CEO Pretorius. “He is a truly visionary South African – he wants to make a difference and has had the courage to make it happen for a huge number of people.
“He has inspired me to make that difference as well! I try to do that at home, in the workplace and in the community. If I had a stone that I carried with me, that would be inscribed on it: ‘Make the world a little better every day’,” she says.
Given the opportunity to take over the reins of government for only one day, Francis took some time to consider the one change she would be allowed to make.
“Every South African would have access to a home (maybe not a handout) with basic services – electricity, running water and sanitation – at the very least. A nation in houses is a proud and peaceful nation; a nation that can read at night is on the way to the empowerment for which we are all so desperately looking.”
But Francis also has a message for South Africa: “Nurture your relationships – if we concentrate on that – nurturing relationships at home (we never stop loving our children, but sometimes we neglect them), at the workplace and in the community, the world will gradually move in the right direction.
“We have to work, we have to survive, but that should never ever be done at the expense of our relationships – they are the most precious things that we have,” she concludes.
John Doolan
Into Iris’s past
When Iris took us to see the places in southern KwaZulu-Natal where she had grown up – the farm at Hlokozi, the house in Jolivet that she remembers as a mansion, and the school where she saw Princess Diana get married on TV – it was probably inevitable that her mother Maureen, brother Morris Jr. and sister Ally would go with us. And if there had been more room in the four-by-four vehicle that Iris borrowed from a colleague, more family members would no doubt have come along.
We stopped first at the house in Jolivet, on the main road to Highflats, where Iris’s mother had moved with her children after her husband’s common-law wife had moved in with him on the farm.
“This house felt like a mansion compared to the huts on the farm,” said Iris, as we stood in front of the rectangular house. “We felt so wealthy. We were the first people on the South Coast who had a TV. It was in a huge lounge, and the neighbourhood kids would stand outside with their faces pressed against the window. Now it all seems so small and ordinary.”
The land close to the river had since been bought by the Ugu Municipality and there were now water purification works where their home and their father’s trading store had been. But on the slope above the purification works, a neighbour had built a house on the foundation that Morris Flynn (her father) had laid decades before, promising his family that this was where he would build a mansion for them.
We drove on to go and see one of the waterfalls that Iris remembered so vividly from her childhood. I was amazed by its size and beauty. Iris waded into the ice-cold pool in front of the waterfall, splashing around with a child’s enjoyment. “There was a lot more water then – we could sit against the rocks and have the water cascading over us.”
On the way back, Iris questioned Maureen about some of the details of life on the farm that she had forgotten.
On the surface, mother and daughter seemed very different: Iris so vibrant, bubbly and still on a high after the visit; Maureen so soft-spoken and serene.
But in a fundamental way, they were the same: Both were strong, resilient women whose lives had become extraordinary because they lived each day with courage and commitment. Like so many other strong women, they were always ready to do whatever was needed to protect their children and keep their families together, no matter what the cost to themselves.
Extract from Wilna Botha’s “Burning Bright: Extraordinary Women of KwaZulu-Natal”
