Khasipe vindicated

I started an argument on Facebook which I hope to an extent transfer to my weekly article. I wish to argue that Thabo Khasipe’s forced resignation has left a void and a channel for looting. Circumstances and political influences forced Khasipe to resign from the National Covid-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC). When Khasipe left NACOSEC, Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro was supposed to move quickly to restore calm, trust and a sense of certainty by giving us a competent leader. But I am afraid his resignation left so much uncertainty and concern as well as a potential drain on knowledge and experience, which we needed as a nation in our efforts to fight Covid-19. Professionalism in the NACOSEC is gone! Before Christmas I wrote an article talking about the coming of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. I highlighted that we shall have a second wave because of our brothers and sisters who were coming home from South Africa for the Christmas holidays. Secondly when these brothers and sisters of ours were at home we partied hard without taking the necessary precautions. There were no masks, no sanitizers and social distancing. People were sharing bottles of beer. But nobody paid attention to that cry. Since the departure of Khasipe we have not had a cogent a Covid-19 strategy. Berea which was designated as a Covid-19 hospital was stopped and they started treating other diseases. We still have insufficient oxygen in hospitals, no ICU beds and insufficient PPE for nurses. Let us admit it that during Khasipe’s leadership citizens got assurances of hope because there was a sense of direction, that this country was managing the pandemic. This December I have never heard of so many people suffering from flu in the middle of summer. People are sick. In December a man who had Covid-19 symptoms could not be admitted at Thetsane Private Hospital and Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital. Apparently, these hospitals do not admit Covid-19 patients. Unfortunately, we lost this life because this nation is not prepared to deal with Covid-19. When Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro appears on the eleventh hour, at 7pm on the 31st of December and attempts to stop Basotho from celebrating the new year then you know we are in trouble. When the Minister of Education appears on the eleventh hour and tells the nation that schools will be reopened the following day then you know there is no leadership. Clearly the Prime Minister and the Minister were not given correct data to make timely decisions. With the current NACOSEC I do not get any sense of leadership, direction, purpose, planning and preparedness. Khasipe and his team came up with a strategy, a plan and gave us direction. But when they were supposed to be given resources and support, they were sabotaged. Khasipe’s resignation brought with it the needless deaths of poor Basotho. NACOSEC’s problems manifested themselves the minute procurement was mentioned. Greedy ones kicked into top gear and the politicians and bureaucrats went into a sulking campaign. They withheld everything from NACOSEC; sulking like spoiled brats in the corner. A coordinated campaign to discredit NACOSEC and its CEO was launched including court cases. They frustrated everyone and everything until it collapsed. NACOSEC went back to the bureaucrats who are the corrupt and incompetent Ministry of Health officials. They claimed Khasipe was not a medical doctor and he can’t drive our National Strategy response to Covid-19. But now the second wave is here. Everything is what we have come to expect. People are dying like flies. The only reason the Ministry of Health and its advocates were hell-bent on discrediting NACOSEC was specifically for this reason – to steal public funds through useless spending of things like branding, vehicle leasing, catering, workshops and other rubbish which doesn’t work towards increasing our health capacity! On the 31st of December 2020 the corrupt at the Ministry of Health were racing against the clock to renew rented vehicles which were procured corruptly during the Maseribane-led Command Centre! How do you extend contracts which there was no tender issued out in the first place? The Minister of Health was frothing on the lips, promising the impossible that 2 000 tests would be done daily! What a joke! The whole of October and November the government could not perform Covid-19 tests. The government could not procure cartridges for the printing of Covid-19 certificates and they did not have the consumables for the lab. The current NACOSEC leadership is the answer to the question, what would happen if there is no leadership at an institution. Chaos, more infections, more deaths and less recoveries. I have argued with my friends on Facebook, who say it is not about individuals but about institutions. Like John Maxwell I believe “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Please answer what makes certain institutions or organisations great? I have come to believe without doubt that the answer revolves around leadership. It is quite simple; if you have a poor leader you will have a poor institution or organisation. Period! No institution can ever achieve greatness beyond its leadership ability. NACOSEC can never achieve greatness with its current poor leadership. I believe with all my heart that a leader determines the limit on the potential for the institution to grow. A horse may be good but it still needs a good jockey to win a race. We forced a great jockey to resign. That is why, for most non-performing institutions, the only way to increase the performance is only by raising up the leadership capability or replace the leadership role with more capable leaders. For a performing institution, when we replace the leader with less capable leader, the organisation’s performance will fail to align with the leader’s capability. That is exactly what happened with NACOSEC, we replaced a capable leader with a very poor leader and the institution has aligned with the leader’s poor capabilities. Do not get me wrong, I do not believe in strong men who are bigger than institutions but great leaders make great institutions. Khasipe is a great leader. Ramahooana matlosa