The world-acclaimed British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, offers a perspective on democracy: “Democracy does not guarantee good governance, it merely makes it possible.”
The advent of democracy in South Africa has provided invaluable opportunities to address some pressing challenges our society has faced for a long time. Among such critical matters is knowledge management. Knowledge is a strategic resource in the process of tackling socio-economic development and must occupy centre stage in our society instead of being only a discipline in both the corporate world and the tertiary institutions.
Admittedly, knowledge management is a complex and dynamic field that continues to be a contested territory even within highly developed countries. That is because there are very rarely easy answers in the fluid and fast-paced world of knowledge. It is precisely the elastic nature of knowledge that makes certain we have many schools of thought today regarding what caused the current financial crisis in the world. Or, even nearer home, what caused the political shake-up taking place in South Africa at the moment. Barrack Obama’s historic and unequalled accomplishment in the 2008 US presidential elections is another matter subject to both reasoned debate and pure conjecture, in line with the dynamic nature of knowledge.
Quite sadly, our situation regarding knowledge management in South Africa was needlessly complicated even more by the folly of institutionalised racism. The misguided system has undercut our country’s competitive advantage by not only interfering with many people’s sense of responsibility to become proper pilots of their professional and private lives. It also ensured that many more citizens have neither opportunity nor capacity to produce more than they consume in the economy of their own country.
Some of the upheavals we have experienced in the last few years of our democracy, especially in our communities, are a probable warning that we are not picking up the right pace in transforming our country. And this remains a massive risk factor for the entire society. An important point that needs to be made here is that change will not come to our communities, or to our society at large, when our compatriots who are ahead develop the power to carry those who are behind on their shoulders.
Real change will only come when those behind have developed appropriate capacity to lift themselves out of the morass of ignorance and poverty by diligently pursuing their dreams with their God-given talents. What that means is that ways and means have to be found to unlock the potential of those trapped in debilitating poverty within our society. It is the only way the huge risk our country carries can be mitigated. Among the fundamental issues we have to deal with here is that we must work hard to find and utilize as many people as possible with a demonstrable willingness to have a little less, so that those with simply nothing can have a base to start from.
Barrack Obama articulated this vision in his inauguration speech which is worth paying attention to:” A nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous. The success of our economy has depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart.”
South Africa will not be able to stabilize and move forward with the necessary speed unless we successfully push back the frontiers of poverty through courageous investments in knowledge and skills. Although there is no direct mention of either knowledge or skills in the common definition of democracy, the two concepts are known to have a major impact on the effective functioning of democracy.
Supporters require certain levels of knowledge to make sense of the issues their managers and leaders grapple with on a continuous basis. The managers and leaders, on the other hand, require high levels of skills to turn ideas into plans, actions and concrete results.
Gibson Sakong
Executive Chairman – Montshepetja Academy
2 Comments until now.
THE SECOND LAST PARAGRAPH IS CORRECTAND PROMPTS ME TO ADD ON THAT. IN THIS COUNTRY OF OURS, I BELIEVE, THERE’S SO MUCH FOCUS ON SPENDING LESS FINANCES AND ACCUMULATING MORE IN THE LONG RUN. THAT ONLY WORKS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THE MONEY TO PUT IN AS AN INVESTMENT IN NOTHING.
OUR GOVERNMENT ALSO SUPPORTS SUCH PRACTICES AS IT CLEARLY STATES IN EVERY CONFERENCE THAT PEOPLE SHOULD MAKE MONEY. IT IS OF GREAT INCUMBENCY THAT ALL OF US IN THIS COUNTRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT MAKING MONEY IS NOT THE WAY.
I CAN MAKE MONEY TODAY AND WAKE UP TOMORROW WITH NOTHING BECAUSE I CAN ONLY MAKE MONEY BUT CANNOT USE IT AND AT THE SAME SUSTAIN IT. HOW MANY RICH PEOPLE KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THEY HAVE IN THE BANK? VERY FEW, IF THEY WANT TO KNOW THAT THEY BUY NEWSPAPERS AND LOOK AT THE RICH LIST.
THE POLITICISING OF THE YOUTH IS ONE OF THE PULL-AND-SET BACKS OF THE YOUTH OF OUR COUNTRY. MANY ISSUES ARE POLITICISED AND PROJECTED UNTO THE YOUTH THAT IS VULNERABLE AND POSSESS GREAT AND EXCLUSIVE PRODIGIES. WITH THE CURRENT HAVOCK OF OUR POLITICAL STATE, SUCH YOUTH IS TOTALLY AMBIVALENT AS TO WHAT WAY IS OKAY FOR THEM.
IF TIME MIGHT BE TAKEN TO INVEST IN KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS,GETTING THE YOUTH TO SCHOOL, INITIATING PROJECTS THAT PRODUCE GREAT KNOWEDGE AND SO FORTH, THEN OUR COUNTRY IS SET FOR GREAT HEIGHTS.
A philosophy of my own is that an idea is what you are not sure of a plan is a possibility of implemantation. oooooOne thing we, humans do, is to have ideas that we never implement. When we speak of our “great” ideas, we say if only I could get such an amount of money, I would do this and that.
The problem with tghat is that no one will give you that amount of money until you have popped out what you have in that given moment.
My point with my statement is that as Mr. Sakong has said, people shoulsd learn to put ideas to plans. To emphasise on that, I quote Dr. Mvula’s words where, in a nutshell, he said “richness lies in the cemetery where people disintergrate with GREAT unused ideas.”
Let us take initiative in whatever we do and expect less help from intrinsic forces and morte from ourselves.
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