Few expressions have been made to work harder than ‘adding value’. It has appeared in so many company profiles, presentations and mission statements that it is in danger of meaning very little at all. For Lebohang Mofokeng, however, those two words have always carried a rather more personal meaning.

His mother, Mamokhele Mofokeng, taught him that whenever he entered another person’s life, he should add something worthwhile to it. That person should be better off for having known him.

It was an ambitious instruction to give a child, but Lebohang had plenty of examples to follow.

Growing up in Bohlokong, near Bethlehem, he spent much of his childhood with his aunt and grandmother, whose home was closer to his school. Come the weekend, cousins arrived in such numbers that, as he remembers it, every weekend felt like the December holidays. There was cooking, baking, plenty to eat and church on Sundays. His grandmother taught the children to look after the house and one another. His mother showed him what those lessons looked like beyond the family home.

Mamokhele was, in her son’s eyes, the friendliest, most optimistic and selfless person he had ever known. She believed life was not simply about enjoying what you had, but about serving God and other people. Lebohang absorbed that belief so completely that it helped determine his choice of profession. Law, he thought, would give him a voice he could use on behalf of people who struggled to be heard.

The route into labour law, however, was anything but carefully planned.

He initially pursued his LLB with politics in mind, but a chance encounter at a funeral in March 2022 changed the direction of his career. An invitation to observe CCMA proceedings exposed him to labour law, and another connection made during the experience opened the door to shadowing a labour consultancy.

By June, the area of law he had barely considered as a career had become the one he wanted to pursue.

It is a curious way to discover your calling, but there is something rather appropriate about it. Two people took the time to open doors for a young lawyer. Their generosity changed the direction of his working life. His mother’s lesson had found its way back to him.

It would not be the last time someone else’s belief in him changed his plans.

When Lebohang spotted a vacancy at the Consolidated Employers’ Organisation (CEO), he initially forwarded the advertisement to a colleague, thinking his friend might be interested. The colleague read it and promptly told him that CEO was looking for Lebohang instead.

He applied, finding a way to accommodate a virtual interview despite an already demanding professional schedule. Commissioners who were contacted also recommended him. It seems he had already begun making the sort of impression his mother encouraged.

As a Dispute Resolution Official, Lebohang helps employers deal with matters at the CCMA and Bargaining Councils. He believes representation should give members more than legal arguments. They need to know their voices will be heard, their concerns understood and that someone with the necessary expertise is prepared to stand up for their interests.

He is particularly interested in CEO’s role in collective bargaining. The organisation can participate in shaping agreements that affect employers across entire industries rather than merely assisting individual businesses once the rules have been made. It is a form of service with a much wider reach, although he remains alert to the everyday pressures facing smaller employers, from skills shortages to the cost and complexity of compliance.

Friends have their own way of describing his usefulness. Lebohang, they say, is their personal Google, the person who somehow has an answer, a piece of advice or a word of encouragement ready when needed. They also describe him as optimistic, disciplined and consistent. The comparison may be flattering, but unlike a search engine, he seems genuinely interested in what happens after he gives you the answer.

He is not, however, without his uncertainties.

Lebohang admits he sometimes worries so much about failing that he hesitates to act. He also regrets missing his graduation ceremony because he was too busy concentrating on work to celebrate. Perhaps one of the lessons still waiting for him is that adding value to other people’s lives need not mean being quite so hard on himself.

He does find time for family braais, travelling to sporting events and the pleasure of a proper sleep, which he considers indispensable. Beyond those comforts, his ambitions are considerable. Inspired by the economic progress of countries such as Singapore and South Korea, he hopes to contribute to a South Africa with greater opportunity and less poverty and unemployment.

It is an enormous aspiration, but it begins with the same instruction he heard from his mother. Make a difference to someone. Leave things better than you found them. Then look for the next person, the next problem, the next opportunity to make a difference.

Perhaps ‘adding value’ is not such a tired expression after all. It simply needs people like Lebohang to give it meaning.