Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Where there is a will there is certainly a way! If the Lesotho government and Basotho people at large were truly committed to creating jobs for the youth, they would have moved heaven and earth to make a way. In contrast, Lesotho is not generating any jobs for the youths because there is simply no political will to start with. There’s no resolve to do the right things. The sad reality is that there is no real commitment within the public service sector to create jobs. It’s all talk and no action. Lesotho is simply not ready to create jobs and let me show you how. Had the French government decided to reject an idea to build the Airbus A380 jet, it would’ve just remained a dream up to this day. But because of a very strong sense of resolve from all sectors of the economy and most importantly, political will, the A380 jet was built and flew despite its sheer size. This goes to show that, where there’s a will, there’s definitely a way. The Airbus A380 jet is gigantic. I remember viewing it at OR Tambo Airport. It was parked right in front of the viewing deck from the international arrivals. I mean the body even shivers by just looking at the massive scale of the plane more especially the four massive engines. They are so imposing. So, imagine pitching an idea to build an A380 jet to Lesotho public servants. They would be fast to give their favourite answer: “it’s impossible” or “it won’t work”. Imagine a world that operates under an attitude that says, “it’s impossible” or “it won’t work”. Nothing would be done. Nothing would be built. The world would never advance. There wouldn’t be any of the modern-day man-made marvels that are just mind-blowing by their sheer scale. One of those man-made marvels that left me speechless was the sheer size of cruise ships. In February 2017, I was invited to experience the luxuries of an MSC cruise ship. The scale of that ship just left me speechless. Imagine a twelve-storey hotel floating in water. Twelve storeys! A ship taller than the Lesotho Bank Tower, floating in water. Yes, our people would’ve said, “it’s impossible”, had the engineers pitched such an idea to them. “A five-star hotel in water? No, that’s impossible”. “Ebile never come back to my office with such crazy ideas”. Those cruise ships have everything and anything that a five-star hotel can offer. They have pools, casinos, banqueting halls, helicopter landing-pads, you name it, it is there. This goes to demonstrate that where there’s a will, there’s always a way. Because of my interest in the property and construction industry, there are about three examples of projects that had to triumph over very impossible circumstances, that I’d like to make reference to. The Afrikaner community has a saying that goes, ’n boer maak ‘n plan, meaning a farmer will always make a plan. In most cases meaning the Afrikaner community will always find a way to solve life’s tough challenges. About three years ago, the Afrikaner community announced that it had plans to build an exclusive, Afrikaans University. The medium of instruction would only be Afrikaans because they felt strongly about building a lasting legacy for their children and to preserve the Afrikaans language. Guess what happened? As the saying goes, ‘n boer maak ’n plan. The community developed a fund (a pot) and each and every Afrikaans speaking person that felt strongly about the initiative (oa boithatelo bo botle), was more than welcome to pour something into the pot. This is what I have been advocating for, with the Loti Development fund. Did you know that some of the Afrikaans-speaking people contributed as little as twenty Rands (R20), into the pot? Two Tiger! I am referring to individuals that have fallen on hard times such as car guards and security guards. It takes an insurmountable amount of resolve to get everyone to share into a common purpose. At the end of the day, the Afrikaner community managed to contribute a staggering R300 million and the university is currently under construction as we speak. The site is located between Centurion and the Waterkloof Airbase in Pretoria. Let me repeat again! The university is now under construction and will be completed next year, in 2021. I mean, where there’s a will, there’s certainly a way. Basotho people can’t even contribute ten rands (R10) each, towards the modernisation of their one and only university. This goes to show how much Basotho value the education of their kids and future generations. I mean, how do you have a national university that is ranked position 221 in Africa? As much as we love to hate the Afrikaner community, there’s just something amazing about them. The word impossible does not exist in their vocabulary. But one thing that will always stand out is their work ethic and never say die attitude. Another project developed by the Pretoria-based Afrikaner community is a development of a commercial wing of the Loftus Versveld Stadium. In other words, the developers managed to build a shopping mall attached to a stadium on a site that was nothing but a dumpsite. The site has been re-imagined and developed into a multi-million rand development with restaurants, hotels, office blocks and a fountain square. This is what I’ve been motivating for with the sale of Setsoto Stadium. With Loftus Stadium, the managers realised that stadiums don’t generate money during the week and off-season, then, why not build a commercial centre for extra revenue? Love them or hate them, the Afrikaner community is just outstanding. Imagine what it took to build the triple deck M1 highway in Johannesburg. It is a highway with three storeys, one on top of the other. To imagine that a large part of the highway design was conceptualised in the 1950’s and construction began in 1967, leaves one to imagine what exactly was going on in the heads of the Afrikaner engineers of that time. This goes to show that, where there’s a will, there will always be a way. To even think that Basotho engineers cannot even come close to imagining projects of that scale almost 60 years later, leaves one to doubt a lot of things. Talking about highways, imagine what it took when King Mswati III ordered his people to build a highway connecting Mbabane and Manzini. Look, I am talking about a proper highway with off-ramps and on-ramps and overhead bridges. Jo’burg highway spec. Eseng bo Mpilo. Talking about Mpilo, I remember a time I was attending a meeting at Maseru City Council. So, there was a lady that was busy bragging about how wonderful Mpilo Boulevard is. She kept on saying, “Mpilo is our very own N1 highway”. In my mind I kept on thinking, really! History tells us that King Mswati said the highway would be done come rain or sunshine. The most difficult part was to clear the way because of encroachments into the road reserve and that meant a great deal of compensations. But it had to be done, come rain or sunshine. Today, we speak of a world-class highway that connects two of the biggest commercial centres in Eswatini (Swaziland). Where there’s a will, there’s always a way! Can we construct a similar highway from Maseru border post to Moshoeshoe I Airport? Or possibly a railway line from Maseru Industrial to the airport? I guess it’s impossible. In life, if you truly want something, you will move heaven and earth to make it happen. If Basotho were truly serious about creating jobs for their kids, they would’ve made it happen instead of fighting over politics. Unfortunately, there’s simply no will and resolve to create jobs in Lesotho. Basotho people are dancing out of rhythm and singing out of tune. There’s no common vision and common purpose. There’s just no political will to develop the country and subsequently, to create jobs. It is as simple as that. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way! ‘Mako Bohloa