My recent trip to Africa [Feb - April 2015]

Meeting Zimbabweans working and resident in Cape Town South Africa.

My trip to Africa gave me the opportunity to put a face to the name. Facebook and Whatsapp are very good networking tools if utilised in a productive manner.

It's nice to exchange ideas and views on here but nothing beats face to face meetings, this photo is when I met fellow Zimbabweans from Cape Town and Western Cape over the weekend.

There's was lot of energy and enthusiasm that I felt when we started sharing the challenges and possible solutions to address them. There is certainly hope for a better Zimbabwe if we can all come together and start transforming our words to practical achievable outcomes.

In the words of my good old friend Taurai Brighton Muluswela " If we can do the little things right, the bigger challenges will be much easier to resolve". One has a better understanding of issues that people from diverse backgrounds have when conversations like these take place, it has more impact than standing in front on a podium and dishing out ones thoughts to a crowd of people.

Nation building is about shared responsibility and complimenting each other where we have weakneses, our differences are our strengths if channelled in an organised manner.I have found the most complicated thing about leadership as not leading but identifying capable leaders who have the ability and capability of taking responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

I spend most of my free time engaging with the community, which may not seem like a typical approach of leadership development, but it has been embraced by a few organisations globally that have found it to be an effective alternative channel to develop leadership skills amongst corporate and business leaders.

Meeting Zimbabweans working and resident in Johannesburg

The concept of developing leaders through community service involves taking employees in a business environment whom I identify as potential future leaders and making them lead a community project out of their comfort zone, with the main intention of honing their leadership abilities.
Much as this sounds straight foward, I have found it's hard to find Zimbabweans willing to leave their comfort zones which are driven by a capitalist individualist culture that focuses first on self-interest before any consideration is made to work for a greater good.

In fact, taking on leadership roles in the community arena might be a tougher ground to develop true leaders. It is a test of leadership not by position, title or authority. It is a test of leadership through influence, trust, credibility and service.

Most Zimbabweans are very good at identifying problems and expressing their frustrations about lack of viable solutions but equally so not many can transform their words to practical measurable outcomes.

I used to think its the enviroment on the ground but I've recently been there to experience it myself and as I see it we cant blame anything or anyone but ourselves.

Its probably one of the many reason Mugabe has struggled to bring development to the country its not easy identifying men and women of intergrity who are principled and can work to agreed targets, most are there to take advantage of their positions of influence and few if any can work for a greater good.

Unless we have changed attitudes I fear we will be stuck in a cycle of blame and critical analysis with nothing coming out of the shared persepectives.

As a nation we need to look at our differences as strengths that we should use to compliment each other where we are weak. There's no one who knows everything and can please everyone, however when we listen more than we talk, there's a much greater chance of building bridges of understanding.

Meeting Seed Kafesu Johannesburg.

The glaring reality is everyone is a leader in their personal life, and true leadership appreciates the tolerance that comes from those patient enough to give others an opportunity to share their ideas on how best we can make our environments a much better place to live in.

Without the above there can be no unity of purpose. We can't all be leaders but we can share the responsibilities that help build strong families, communities, nations and a better global society.


My doors are open for those ready to face the unknown future and are tolerant enough to accept differing opinions and embrace new ideas that have not been put to test.

For me true leadership grows out of an attitude of service to others. If we can cultivate this leadership attitude in our aspiring and current crop of leaders, they will be making a difference for many years to come, changing their world and ours!