MY TAKE ON MOKGWEETSI MASISIS CHOICE AS VICE PRESIDENT IN TODAY’S WEEKEND POST Prior to Wednesday afternoon this author was no more certain than most people as to who would ultimately be appointed as our nation’s 8th Vice President. The designation of Mokgweetsi Masisi, however, certainly did not come as a surprise. His experience, record of service, manifest skill and success as a politician, along with the obvious trust that he has earned in the eyes of the President, and indeed others, had all along marked him an obvious contender. At the risk of being labelled as a “lelope”, in my own view what stands out first and foremost in terms of the personal qualities Masisi now brings to the nation’s second highest office is his passion and related drive for confronting the most difficult issues. This quality has arguably been best displayed in his commitment as the leading driver of the Poverty Eradication Programme. It is not every politician who would with seeming eagerness put his or her political capital on the line by championing a targeted programme to eradicate extreme poverty among the able bodied within what effectively amounts to a five year time frame. When progress in the first phase of the programme, that is the introduction of the backyard gardens, was compromised by water scarcity, others would be inclined to pull back. But, for the now Vice President the challenge of abject poverty has been too urgent and important to ignore. And so with his tenacious support (as well as that of the President), the programme has continued to progress in the face of obstacles. While time will tell whether the programme can fully deliver within its ambitious timetable, what is certain is that already thousands of our country’s neediest have been given a necessary hand up. This fact is reflected in the 1,815 projects that are currently operational across the country, as well as the over 13,000 beneficiaries who have been trained so far in basic business skills, to enable them to sustainably manage their SMMEs. In other words as a leader Masisi has not been afraid to take on the toughest, some would say riskiest assignments. This quality was further reflected in this week’s announcement that the Vice President will for now continue with his portfolio responsibility at the Ministry of Education and Skills Development; where he has the critical task of ensuring that much needed transformation gets off the ground through implementation of the education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP). Those familiar with his vocational background will know that the Vice President’s passion for education is longstanding. He was a qualified Secondary School teacher, before joining, in 1987, the Curriculum Development and Evaluation unit; where he supervised the subjects of Social Studies, Music, Religious and Moral Education. Following a stint of graduate studies at Florida State University in the USA, he played a leading role in the local introduction of Criterion Referenced Testing (CRT), while becoming the National Coordinator for Social Studies Education. From 1995 the Vice President worked for UNICEF as Education Project Officer. Beyond his further contributions to local and regional education, this experience may help to account for his reputation as a diplomat, as reflected in recent years by his frequent service as the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. In 1999 Masisi’s academic aptitude was further recognised when he was awarded a prestigious Chevening Scholarship to undertake further graduate studies in Economic and Social Policy at Manchester in the U.K. Not reflected on the Vice President’s CV is his private passion for theatre and the arts, which has included personal involvement on stage and in film. Besides his lifelong dedication to public service and varied experience, the Vice President’s strength of character is exhibited in additional personal qualities including a strong sense of self-discipline, easy acceptance of the need for collective responsibility within an organisation and a resulting sense of loyalty. It perhaps says something about the current standards of our public discourse that Masisi’s critics have often focused on the latter quality, i.e. that of loyalty, as if it were a defect rather than strength. Words like bootlicker tend to get easily thrown around by those who fail to appreciate the fundamental fact that loyalty is a necessary prerequisite for any form of collective success, be it at the level of family, in sports and business, or at the highest political level. Beginning with Masire’s relationship to Seretse, there has in this respect never been a Vice President in this country who has not displayed staunch loyalty to the President of the day while in office. For in as much as Ministers may debate a matter fiercely behind closed doors but are nonetheless expected to thereafter display collective ownership of all Cabinet decisions, the Office of the Vice President among other things is generally expected act as the President’s point man in the implementation of the Executive’s agenda.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 16:57:26 +0000