Although the DC’s responsibilities are taxing, Muzila enjoys her job because she enjoys the new challenges she meets almost daily.
“The long queue of people that you have passed outside on your way to my office, has become a regular feature”, asserted the DC. She showed Mmegi a register of those who had already registered to meet her that day and the list was indeed long. Some had come with marital problems, family disputes, medical issues, debt related complaints, disputes over a deceased person’s estate and many more. “It is our resolve that all these people should leave the DC’s office with a smile,” Muzila said confidently.
According to her, their clients hardly leave her office unsatisfied. “I have literally instructed my officers not to prevent any person from seeing me for whatever reason,” she observed and added that not all cases brought to her find immediate solutions. She however, makes sure that the person who entered her office with a long face leaves with a lot of hope. She related several incidents in which people came to her office literally crying but left smiling. One of the incidents she related was a case in which a man owed his girlfriend P8,500 that he allegedly used to pay lobola to marry another woman. When this jilted lady realised the trick the man had played, the boyfriend became impossible and demanded proof that he had borrowed the money from her. With her investigative skills she acquired during her stint as a police officer, Muzila won the battle and the man finally paid back the amount he owed and the lady went away with a smile.
The DC must be a person with very good public relations. Muzila does not dispute this statement, but points out that the public that she serves can better judge her.
Muzila explains that the DC serves as principal representative of the central government at district level in political, administrative and policy matters directing, overseeing and coordinating the formulation, drafting and implementation of district development plans and programmes in the district. The DC also coordinates activities of various government and non-governmental organisations operating in the district by providing leadership for teamwork.
Amongst her duties, she organises and coordinates planned state and other distinguished visits of national importance, ensuring that security, protocol and logistical arrangements are in place. She executes judicial functions as Magistrate Grade II and reviews cases from customary courts by confirming, altering, ordering retrials or setting aside sentences after studying and analysing them. She also serves as principal registration officer and returning officer during Parliamentary and Local government elections and ensures smooth running of the elections. Looking at her job description, the DC should be knowledgeable of almost everything that happens in the district. Another of the most common duties of a DC is to solemnise marriages. She also serves in a number of district committees, most of which she chairs.
With such a hectic schedule, where does Muzila get time for her family? The DC is married to a businessman, Robert and they have three children. She is happy that they planned their family well as she gave birth to her children whilst she was young. Today, her children are highly independent. The first-born is currently working in the US, where she is a Clinical Psychologist. The second born is an attorney with the Attorney General’s Chambers in Gaborone and the third born is currently a fourth year Bachelor of Information Technology and Management student in South Africa.
“To answer your question, my husband and I are the only ones at home. We meet in the evening after work and life just goes on,” said Muzila. Her first two children have masters degrees. She explained that hers is a family of workaholics and she regards this as their secret recipe for success. She says she is now used to reaching her house late everyday. Her husband is a retired civil servant and he holds a masters degree in development economics. Before coming here, she was a DC in Gaborone, Molepolole and Masunga.
Muzila was one of the first women to enlist in the Botswana police in 1971, where she served for three years before she opted out to serve in a civilian capacity as the secretary to the police northern divisional commander, where she worked with Jackson Ndubiwa up to 1978.
One of her former squad mates is the current deputy divisional commander (North), assistant commissioner of police, Annah Matshego. She still remembers that the divisional headquarters was in charge of the Police Mobile Unit (PMU), then. These were during the times of the Ian Smith regime.
The Selibe-Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) later employed her where she initially served as a committee clerk before she finally shifted to become a fully-fledged community development officer for the council under the Self-Help Housing Agency (SHHA), coordinating work in the town’s low-income housing projects. Muzila was forced to leave her job because her husband had been transferred to Selibe-Phikwe. The SHHA concept was new at the time. The first housing policy was adopted in 1982. She later rose through the ranks until she became a chief housing officer in 1996. In February, the same year, Muzila was appointed to her current position.
She attributes her success to hard work. She gives credit to Cabinet Minister, Pelonomi Venson who by then was the Establishment Secretary, Unified Local Government Service and Management. She vividly remembers that it was Venson who approved and sponsored her to go abroad for further studies. The other person who played a major role in her life is Ronald Campbell, who was her adviser in the then Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing.
In 1983, the government sponsored her to read for an Associate of Science Degree in policy and administration in the USA. After that she did her Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Affairs (Urban studies) in the USA and an Honours programme at the Indiana University in Indianapolis, USA. She read for her Masters in Social Science and development administration at Birmingham University in the UK in 1989.
