Volume 65 December 2026-January 2026 : Politics

 

A full council meeting is on in the council chamber but the ever so busy official sacrifices some time for an interview with Kutlwano. 

Ironically, the interview happens to take place on the day the Kgatleng District Council (KDC) secretary, Jimmy Nsala, is retiring from the civil service - February 29, 2012.

Therefore, as he shakes hands with well-wishers down the corridors, Nsala is at the same time and as usual cracking a joke here, authorising a cheque there or giving an instruction wherever. 

Were you to pass by KDC and found Nsala chatting animatedly with his junior staff, you could be forgiven for mistaking him for being one of them. 

“He is truly a humble servant,” says councilor Tona Mooketsi, attributing KDC’s shining success to, among other attributes, the man’s down to earth attitude.

Known for his chatty character, KDC’s former chief executive officer was certainly a darling to many journalists, though sometimes he frustrated them by talking on and on until there was no room for questions.

As such, in the spacious office within the KDC chambers, the evidently radiant man taps deep into the reservoirs of his memories like a windmill tapping water from the bottom of mother earth.

He jumps straight to the heart of the matter. “Yes, my name is Jimmy Nsala, I was born on the 4^th day of February, 1954 in Masunga. I am married with six children,” he says.

Although he does not quite well remember the dates, he is certain that he attended the local Masunga Primary School in the North East District.  “I am an old man now, I cannot remember those years,” he says with a chuckle.

After obtaining a Second Class (B) grade from Masunga Primary School, he says he proceeded to Setlalekgosi Secondary School, some 100 kilometers away in Francistown, where he also graduated with a Second Class grade.

For the young man, the journey was not over yet as from Setlalekgosi he headed straight to Lobatse Teacher Training College (LTTC) where he obtained a credit in Primary Teacher’s Course between 1973 and 1974.

“I was among the pioneers of the Primary Teachers Course, which was previously called Primary Higher and Primary Lower,” says the now retired top council official.

What followed in 1975 was an illustrious career as a civil servant that spanned more than three decades, starting as a junior teacher at Siviya Primary School in the North East District and ending up as a council secretary in the Kgatleng District Council.

The man who believes in hard work, punctuality and discipline, saw the recipe fetching him promotion after promotion as he gladly remembers how the Lobatse Town Council attained a star performance under his reign as town clerk.

As if that was not enough, he says he repeated the same feat after he moved to Jwaneng Town Council.  “In Jwaneng they called me ‘trouble shooter’,” he recalls, apparently for his ability to gun down work challenges.

He also fondly remembers that while in Jwaneng, the then Minister of Local Government, Margaret Nasha, used to refer to his council as a model council. 

Nsala attributes his endless successes mainly to discipline, saying leadership and discipline go together.  “You cannot detach discipline from leadership,” he reckons, arguing that discipline is not a tool for autocracy, nor is it a military protocol instrument as some people often think.

He says there are two types of leaders - a natural leader, and a created leader. While a created leader is built within an institution, a natural leader is born, he says, adding that a good leader should be both. He says for an organisation to be successful the leader should built a strong top management team, cultivate the spirit of teamwork, identify talent and give credit where it is due. 

“Your junior staff should be able to learn from you, emulate you and compete with you hence high results,” he says.

Government business starts at 7:30am but for Nsala it always started at 6am so that he could “push whichever work needed my attention while I still have a lot of energy. That has helped me push the council from nothing to where it is today,” he tells of the importance of timeliness and team work. 

Perhaps it will not be a farfetched idea to liken Nsala to American business magnate, Bill Gates, who co-founded the world’s super software company, Microsoft Corporation.

Gates’ dream was crystal clear and crazily ambitious. He wanted to put a computer in every school and home in the world.  Though he was often criticised as greedy and anti-competition, the once world’s richest man had nearly achieved that ambition until he resigned in 2000 to focus on charity work. 

It took Gates all the hard work, determination, and vigorous defence of his company’s dominance to make Microsoft what it is today. 

Similarly, in 2008 the now retired KDC CEO arrived in Mochudi with a dream to elevate the local authority to a first rate council in the country.

Like Gates, Nsala’s original dream was to maintain the number one spot for as long as he was still with KDC.  From the moment he arrived he elevated the council to a two-time best council in the country.

And to know this “magician” better, who many KDC councilors often described in mythical and messianic terms, perhaps one has to travel back in time to Masunga, where he was born. 

Councillor Mooketsi says Nsala was a marvelous, accessible, considerate and humble figure who always defended everything with principle. 

Further, KDC council chairman, Stephen Makhura admits that Nsala was a father figure, with immeasurable experience with talent to rally his troops with a simple call for a greater cause.

“His open door policy and his ability to resolve his colleagues’ personal and official challenges like a parent was undoubtedly the reason why this council prospered,” echoes Makhura.

However, the former council official’s path to successes was not so rosy as he says he grew up in a very poor parentage. “Mine was a struggle” he says, as if in soliloquy.  He says to shed off the rags of poverty, he had to work hard as well as put all his trust in God. The St John’s Apostolic Church of Botswana member confesses that through all the years God has been his ultimate strength. 

As such, within a short space of eight years since his first appointment as a junior teacher at Siviya in 1975, he had already become a senior teacher, deputy school head, and school head, respectively.  He served as school head at Jakalasi No. I, he says.

From then on, the ‘Nsala Magic’ appeared to work wonders for the rare breed of a top official who can easily mingle with his most senior and junior staff alike. 

At Jackalas No.1, he exerted his spirited leadership magic and the school obtained position one that year, beating all schools in the North East District. 

It was not surprising, therefore, that in 1984, Nsala’s magic caught the eye of the Education Department as he was roped in as Senior Education Secretary in the Southern District, skipping the post of Education Secretary, he says. 

According to the ever-cheerful man, five years down the line he was already moving up the civil service ladder to become principal education secretary in the North West District.

Not to miss out on the Nsala magic, in 1994 the Ministry of Local Government put his divine leadership style to test by appointing him assistant council secretary for the Serowe/Palapye Sub-district Council. 

Within five years, the man successfully passed the test and was promoted to deputy council secretary for the Central District Council in 1999. 

It was in 2008 that Jimmy voyaged to the Kgatleng District Council with the sole mission of keeping the torch of success burning. 

Many CEO’s often give up their jobs for greener pastures or for political office but it was not the case with Nsala. His was a calculated move. Still left with three years to reach the maximum mandatory retirement age, he says he feared the recession might impact on his benefits. 

Meanwhile, he says he is not joining politics, though he admits that many political parties have approached him asking for his membership. He says he has declined the offers because currently he has no political DNA in his blood.

Despite all the challenges that come with leadership, Nsala says he leaves a happy man because of his greatest achievements. “I am happy because I have produced the best council in the country twice and my council has been commended for best audit over the years,” he enthuses.

Besides his greatest achievement, the man parades loads of recently acquired academic jewelry and awards, and like his Harvard dropout comparison, Gates, who later went back to Harvard in 2007 to get an honorary degree, he believes it is not too late to go back to university to get a degree as he is a restless scavenger for knowledge in the field of public administration.

His immediate step though is to venture into consultancy, and one cannot hold back his hands but offer a round of applause as Nsala would always plead after every presentation: “Bathong nkopeleng diatla ke feditse” this time not for a presentation well laid but for a job well done.

Not only will the KDC corridors miss Nsala’s thunderous laughter but perhaps his departure leaves a patch in a drying island as felt by many councilors, with councilor Mooketsi concluding that: “It will take KDC a long time to find someone like Nsala.

Buy Online Now!