The past few years have been dominated by positive stories about how Rwanda and Ethiopia are turning the development leaf. These two countries have surprised many by emerging from their dark past. Ethiopia emerged from being the humanitarian aid poster country after experiencing famine in the early 1980s, with Rwanda dominating the headlines after the genocide in the early 1990s. Credit to their visionary leadership, these countries have overtaken even those that used to be big economies in Africa. But as the economies of these countries continue to grow, to what extent are citizens ready and equipped with the right attitude to play an active part? In general terms, large-scale development presumes that the citizens are either driving the growth or adopting to this new reality, but it is not always the case. For example, there has been widespread outcry among many African countries that Chinese companies were bringing their own workers. This is often seen as depriving Africans of employment opportunities. There is another side of this situation: some foreign companies do not think that our people have the right attitude, skills and work ethic to effectively accomplish the projects in time. For that reason, they prefer their own people. But Africa is a continent of paradoxes. Where people are hungry for development, their leadership is clueless. And in countries where leadership has good visions, the people are not ready. Otherwise, an economy that grows without preparing its people will eventually marginalise them, creating a scenario where foreign labour is called upon to play a dominant role. South Africa, in a way, is in that situation and efforts to address that anomaly will take time to catch up. Development is not just economic growth, but an outcome of a massive and gradual social re-engineering which ensures that the economic growth and the people’s ability to be part of it are in tandem. What triggered this discussion? I am writing this piece from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I arrived on Saturday for a layover before proceeding to my final destination. Our flight from one of the Middle Eastern countries took two and half hours to arrive in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian authorities are doing a great job expanding and refurbishing the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. They have done a great job growing the Ethiopian Airlines into a major carrier in Africa and abroad. In-flight service is great, but all these are not in tandem with the ground service at the Bole International Airport, which is very slow and frustrating. Despite most service desks looking over-staffed, simple processes take more time that required. There is no sense of urgency or client service orientation among some of the staff. In 2014, I lost my luggage and I never recovered it and neither did I get compensated. Complaints are, most of the time, not looked at for their merit, but are seen as a bother or insult. And on this Saturday, there are two Zimbabweans at the service desk. They are yelling loudly. And it creates drama for onlook