In Botswana, the kgotla is both a place and a way of meeting: an open ground where the community gathers, speaks and works toward agreement. A Setswana proverb sums up the idea behind it: kgosi ke kgosi ka batho. A chief is a chief through the people.
A study in the International Journal of Lifelong Education compared this traditional idea of leadership with how teachers in Botswana see leadership in their schools. In the kgotla, the authors explain, everyone takes part in discussing matters that concern the village or the country. The tradition goes back to the time before colonial rule, when a leader led with the support and active participation of the people.
School life looked quite different. Teachers often saw the head teacher as the only leader in the building, and many heads made decisions largely on their own. That reflects a modern view of leadership that centers on one person. The Setswana view puts the group, agreement and shared effort first.
The authors suggest bringing the two together so they sound like one tune. Schools are led well, they write, when the head teacher steps out of the center and works side by side with the teachers. They also recommend that training for school leaders in Botswana draw on Setswana culture, so heads stay connected to their teams.
Political scientist Bernd Reiter, who visited Botswana in 2023, concluded that the tradition of regular village assemblies helps explain why the country is governed so steadily and with so much participation.
Sources
Pheko, B., et al. (2008). Leadership from two cultural perspectives: a tune or discord: Botswana's experience. International Journal of Lifelong Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370802051397
Reiter, B. (2024). Participatory democracy in Southern Africa: Explaining Botswana's exceptionalism. Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13100519