DCEC top officials purged in cleansing exercise
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The power struggle between Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) senior officials has led to Office of the President (OP) strategically overhauling the country crime busting agency, with Rose Seretse’s era having come to an end as of Thursday.
Seretse’s end of era, usher in a new broom. The arrival of Victor Paledi it is expected, will build a new regime for the embattled crime busting agency. The announcement of Seretse’s departure after being at the helm since 2009 was followed by the suspension of DCEC Head of Investigations Unit, Itumeleng Phutego for supposedly sharing information relating to the corruption case involving Minister of Lands, Water and Sanitation, Prince Maele. Seretse reluctantly left her post on Thursday, and has taken a lucrative new post at newly formed Botswana Engineers Regulatory Authority (BERA).
Prior to that, another top official Botlhale Makgekgene who was serving as Seretse’s understudy responsible for policy was transferred from the agency to the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security. Government defended the move as just another ‘routine deployment in the civil service’. According to inside sources, following the widely reported Maele case, tension grew between officers and the DCEC top brass with another fall out being experienced among head of the agency units. The officers were summoned and threatened that stern action will be taken against them if they divulge the crime busting agency’s investigation.
“Everyone is being strictly monitored and threatened with expulsion if they speak to the media about investigations,” said the source. “The leakage of information to the press was proving difficult to contain, and it is something which has happened since the Isaac Kgosi case.” Not long ago, DCEC also redeployed its chief spokesperson, Motshoganetsi Lentswe who has since been transferred to Maun on a different post. The DCEC controversial policy bars officers from confirming ongoing investigations but it has lately been challenged by officers who feel it is unnecessarily stifling the agency from dealing with the media.
“Some feel it does not hurt for DCEC to confirm when they are carrying out a particular investigation, just like the Botswana Police who do so without necessarily revealing any information that will jeopardize the investigations,” said the source.
Phutego reportedly went over board when he revealed to Sunday Standard the details surrounding the Maele case. The paper quotes Phutego revealing that currently DCEC is conducting two parallel investigations centred on Khato Civils and its Executive Chairman Simbi Phiri.
“More information is forth coming from the public to build up our case. So far we are closely working with our counterparts in South Africa who are honestly helping us with crucial information to beef up our case against the allegations levelled against the company,” Phutego reportedly said. “If it requires DCEC to extend our investigations beyond our borders, we will go to any country.” The no nonsense investigator reportedly also promised that no stone will be left unturned on the case. Seretse, who has been at the helm since 2009, is viewed as not having been friendly to media, which ordinarily should be perceived as a partner to fighting corruption efforts.
Under her leadership, she presided over the controversial Director of Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS), Isaac Kgosi’s case. At the time of her departure the case was still under DCEC investigations, as per Seretse’s revelation before Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in May this year. Although Seretse’s administration was said to have been cagey when dealing with the media, her predecessor Tymon Katlholo’s was however, credited as having been a great partner to the media and preferred to engage them on regular basis.
“It depends on the leadership, as you have noticed the current [Seretse] Director General preferred not to involve media much as compared to her predecessor [Katlholo],” the source indicated. The Maele case is one of few corruption cases involving senior public figures that have come to the attention of the public, and like many others it will again test the resilience of DCEC under the new regime.
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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.