Tsogwane attributes failure of community projects to lack of transformational leadership

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane has blamed lack of transformative leadership as one of the main causes of failure in community projects especially cooperatives.
Giving a keynote address during the official opening of a Multipurpose Cooperative Society in Patayamatebele village in the North East District Tsogwane said many community projects have failed mainly due to the fact that they was no strategic leadership to drive the projects to success.
“It has been proven that successful community projects are those that are community leadership driven. Without a transformative leadership at community level, without “We can do it mentality,” among our people, we have no cooperative society to talk about,” he said
The Patayamatebele Multipurpose Cooperative Society was established in response to a socio-economic needs assessment that was conducted by the North East District Council(NEDC) task force between 2012 and 2013. The taskforce then recommended that the project be established to empower the locals both economically and socially. The project was funded at a tune of P150 000.
Tsogwane said that the other most common factors that leads to failure on cooperatives include mismanagement, maladministration, internal personal conflicts and intolerance among members. He said that in some extreme cases his ministry often receives reports of embezzlement of funds. He also said it is important for communities to benchmark on those who are successful.
“Some of the simple and basic activities that you can also carry out for your cooperatives to succeed is to include regular consultations with the community, annual meetings, preparation and production of financial reports amongst others,” he said.
On a positive note, the minister said that government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry is working on strategies to revamp the cooperatives culture in Botswana. In addition he said that it is anticipated that upon completion of the strategy there will be a more robust structure to support cooperatives to excel and drive local economy in a more sustainable manner.