Athlete’s book aims to inspire and empower

A member of Johannesburg Harriers Athletic Club (JHAC), Modiba Malebana, launched his book, The Bus Driver (Leadership lessons from running Comrades), at Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve in Kibler Park on May 1.
The book attempts to capture the spirit of camaraderie, resilience, relentlessness grit, endurance and triumph over adversity evinced by Comrades runners.
Most runners have now forged collaborative ways of conquering this ultimate human race. They run in groups called ‘buses’ led by the ‘bus driver’, who carries a flag indicating the pre-set finish time.
The bus driver volunteers to support and encourage the ‘passengers’ along the course.
Modiba is a teacher by profession. He worked for more than 20 years as a teacher and principal; he is the author of a leadership book, Making the difference, which is a school-prescribed book.
Modiba is a prolific writer of school books, which earned him prestigious literary awards, including the MNET Book Prize.
Fezile Mqhayi, chairperson of JHAC, said he is proud to be part of this history.
“JHAC is the oldest club in Johannesburg, and I’m proud as chairperson to witness this history by Modiba. I have learnt so much from this book, especially that if you want to run fast, you run alone but if you want to run far, you run with a team. Congratulations, Mr Malebana,” he said.
Modiba said the secretary at the club, Cathy Munn, was one of the first people to read the book, and she loved it.
“JHAC came to me as a blessing. Within a week of publishing the book, lots of people have shown support and love for it through word of mouth.
“In 2020 during lockdown I was disappointed that I will not run the Comrades after 10 years of running it. I wanted to run 20 consecutive Comrades. Unfortunately there was Covid-19. So I said I’m going to run this race on paper. I had this book in my head for 10 years. Last year gave me the 20/20 vision to do it, and it took me about eight months,” explained Modiba.
He remembered how it all started.
“I was overweight. As a school principal, I told my colleagues I wanted to do something different, like running a Comrades. They said I may as well leave the school because I will die there. So I completed the Comrades. Although I finished it with my running shoes in tatters, I did it in 10 hours and 20 minutes.
“Running and leadership need teamwork, motivation, patience and training. When we think about leaders we think about those who have won the Comrades, like Bruce Fordyce, Ludwick Mamabolo, David Gatebe; however, the people around you are also leaders because they motivate you to go on.“What I like about this race is when you are running there is no position, you are not a principal, a banker or a politician but a runner. That is why you need to run the race.” the way you prepared it, hence I say in every one of us there are seeds of possibilities that can blossom into beautiful flowers,” he said.