Dear Editor
As a young Motswana who is neither opinionated nor politically affiliated I have been compelled to add my voice to the many that object most decisions taken by our leaders in the private and public sectors.
There seems to be a growing tendency by our leaders to engage in non-consultative decision making, going against the very fundamental principle of consultation that has governed our nation long before independence.
The kgotla/public forum was used to lessen chances of errors in decisson making.
This new attitude has led to embarrassing repercussions that leave most of us in the deep end and fumbling to trouble-shoot the after effects of such decisions.
In most cases decisions under took by these overly ambitious leaders are modelled after text book guidelines that promise good results in the face of impossibilities, being an avid reader myself I have had the privilege of gaining insights into readings by some renown authors such as Robert Kiwosaki of the famous “cash flow quadrants and rich dad poor dad.”
I must admit they structure their work in such a way that any one who reads such materials could feel ready to change the world.
Yes! The authors may mean well but what they propose can only work if all “factors are kept constant” countries such as Botswana are developing and thus give rise to a number of turbulent factors that can be overcome by simple consultation of all stake holders regardless of age and education.
Wisdom is not for the educated; you can be surprised at the quality of advice one can derive from old men who have never been to formal schools or even children whose insight is still pure and not polluted by the politics of the world.
Consultation is the answer to many administration huddles that are prevalent in organisations.
A number of personnel have different skills and qualifications that are severely underutilised by our leaders only because most of them are not willing to delegate responsibilities.
Rather they prefer to be “jack of all trades,” which in my view is a recipe for disaster. “Setshwarwa ke ntsa pedi ga se thata.”
The basics of our culture is such that the model for a successful family is consultations of all family members involved in a unit with the head weighing proposals before him before taking the final decision. I wish our leaders may go back to the drawing board and re-think the approach that they are using to govern this nation.
Thabo Molefe
