Leaders are born not made

The problem with leadership in this country is that people who should be led are the ones leading or they want to lead when they should be led. Village Kgotlas have been deprived of born praise poets because now the praise poets want someone else to praise them.

Like most of my peers, I grew up playing ‘house’ with neighbourhood friends and cousins on our street every day. We particularly looked forward to this after school, weekends and during school vacations. For the benefit of those who missed this very important childhood step, playing house involved scavenging for card boxes, plastics and sticks, then going outside our parents’ homesteads where we would then proceed to build our own imaginary houses, then play mommy, daddy or child. If you were street smart you fed your ‘family’ real food and if you were not, you ate soil. The downside with serving soil was that it would then render you ‘husbandless’. Back at playing houses, women were hunters and gatherers while men would just lie down and sleep all day waiting to be served food, or waiting to sneak into the woman next door while you were out hustling for food! These things have been happening for centuries. Leaders are born not made. Leaders are noticed when they are still very young. Some we recognised them at these playhouses; others were first recognised during childhood in schoolyards.

These are kids who are always ready to assume command while still in school and leadership skills to them always appear to be so effortless. They are always ready to take positions of responsibility such as becoming class monitors or heads of imaginary families, leadership traits from a very young age. A few days ago someone mentioned to me without flinching, that leadership was in fact, just a spiritual calling. The person swears that for one to be a leader, they ought to have been a history of leadership in their families even spanning centuries; whether be it traditional or religious leadership roles. There is some element of truth in that. If you ask me, the current ongoing political circus across the opposition lends some credence to this. If indeed it is true that the dead sometimes turn around in their graves when they see shocking stuff down or up here, then our forefathers’ graves must be some dusty mess! (Perhaps the dust that so often engulf our villages is the dead turning in their graves- Ed). In just a little over seven years, I personally know of some followers who have already been ‘led’ by these political Moses’s of our times, to a staggering three political homes!

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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