Abstract
A school is the only place with a formal and legitimate mandate of duty of care for the learner. Schools are expected to be nurturing environments free of abuse, exploitation, violence, bullying, humiliation, discrimination, harassment, negligence, cultural stereotypes, emotional distress, socio-economic marginalisation and moral prejudices. Some concerns about governance and ethical leadership in schools are therefore inevitable. Drawing from the Eurocentric and Afrocentric theoretical perspectives, this article discusses lapses of ethical leadership practices in Botswana with a deliberate focus on school leadership systems. Secondary data is drawn from the media and government reported cases on the growing systemic social decadence. It is argued that unethical conduct in the education system in the country is heightened by lack of an Africanized ethical code of conduct for educators and double-dipping by the public officers. The article recommends an indigenized research approach on ethical leadership and governance. Key words: Afrocentrism, eurocentrism, ethical leadership, code of conduct, good governance, indigenized research, Ubuntu/Botho.
Highlights
Until 2019, Botswana, a sovereign state in Southern Africa which is a former British colony that obtained selfrule in 1966, used to be described as the world‟s leading record of a shining example of democracy in Africa
This article has demonstrated a contradiction between Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism theories of development and their influence in growing systemic social decadence in the entire fabric of development in Botswana, as well as in increasing cases of unethical conduct in schools
Like any nation-state, Botswana development model is inevitably informed by a Eurocentric theory which is regulated by imperialism, globalization, neo-liberalism, market and money-economy
Summary
Until 2019, Botswana, a sovereign state in Southern Africa which is a former British colony that obtained selfrule in 1966, used to be described as the world‟s leading record of a shining example of democracy in Africa. The 2019 democracy and governance perception index reduce Botswana from this perception record to where only 58% of the citizenry felt that the country was going in the right direction This drastic U-turn in perceptions towards socio-economic and political development motivates this article to reflect on governance practices in all sectors of the country‟s economy. A school is required to ensure that all its clientele are placed in an operationally nurturing environment that is free of risks against and from exposure to abuse, exploitation, violence, bullying, humiliation, discrimination, harassment, negligence, cultural stereotypes, emotional distress, socio-economic marginalisation and moral prejudices Despite this being a legitimate social expectation of the functionality of a school, on the contrary the media is littered with stories of the existence of moral decay in the standards of ethical leadership and governance in schools. Like in many other sectors of the economy, schools find themselves under dictatorial leadership (Jesperson, 1992), leadership with endemic corruption (Klitgaard, 1988), dysfunctional leadership with unethical concessions, leadership that promotes bad followership (Chigbu, 2011) and leadership that has become part of the evil socio-political and economic cohesion (Good, 2009; Jawondo, 2011)
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