Masisi clean up not done yet!
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President Mokgweetsi Masisi this week Wednesday held a meeting to discuss the axing of three more top government officials, WeekendPost has established. This comes on the back of the president firing former Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) Director, Isaac Kgosi, just two weeks ago.
When he assumed office, President Masisi promised to run consultative governance: in his decisions to fire, he consults a number of officials close to him. In this weeks’ meeting to continue his ‘clean up’ campaign he consulted with his Vice, Slumber Tsogwane, Minister of Presidential Affairs Nonofho Molefhi and his assistant Mochana Shamukuni. WeekendPost learns that, next to potentially face Masisi’s axe is Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Carter Morupisi, and it is understood that three ministers may attract his attention in the clean-up campaign.
In an interview, one of the officials said to be in line to be axed, told this publication that, “We know that the president is going around saying he wants to instil confidence in Batswana by firing us. But, we are just waiting. He should bring it on. Many people are going to leave the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) because of Masisi’s leadership style,” he said, adding that should one of the said ministers be removed, he will move with his voters. “That one he shouldn’t even dare to touch.”
The official said a number of senior officials on contracts are going to lose their jobs when their contracts expire. “Many contracts are not going to be extended, and there is going to be a massive reshuffling.” Morupisi told this publication he has no idea that he would soon be shown the door.
In an interview with a political analyst, retired Professor Zibani Maundeni on Friday, he said, so far, he has never met people who are complaining about President Masisi’s moves. “I only met those praising what he is doing,” he said, adding that, “But we cannot deny that there were unhappy people out there. And really, for people to leave the BDP, they will have to be seriously hurt.” Maundeni went on to say that President Masisi was still new, and that, “We expect a lot of happenings to take place. We do not know what he has on store for us as yet.”
Another political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said he regrets remarks made by some of BDP veterans expressing dissatisfaction at the management style of President Masisi, particularly the axing of Kgosi. “Their action might slow Masisi’s plan to take action. President Masisi is only asserting what Batswana are desirers of. Contrary to misbelieve that people are leaving BDP because of what President Masisi is doing, Batswana today are looking for where BDP cards are manufactured,” he said.
He averred that BDP veterans were just trying to destroy President Masisi’s confidence to instil confidence in Batswana because many of them were involved in the schemes he is exposing. “But Batswana have demonstrated that the current president is so clever. They all ululated at the removal of Kgosi. They see that confidence is being installed back.” The political analyst went on to dismiss remarks that the new president should have waited a little while before firing people, saying, “Why should he wait? He has always been part of the same government, and these are things that he disagreed with.”
Concerning issues that President Masisi was just settling his scores, the analyst noted that while part of it could be true looking at the fact that some of these people side-lined him when he was still a vice president. “There was a strong belief that Khama was going to replace him before he vacated the office, but when he re-endorsed him (Masisi), many had already rubbed him the wrong way. But the fact of the matter is President Masisi was simply re-installing the government of the people by the people.”
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.