DCEC reshuffle pushes out Rose Seretse
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An impending reshuffle at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) will see Rose Seretse finally being relieved of her role at the corruption busting agency at the end of August this year, Weekend Post can reveal.
The political appointing authority, President Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama appointed Seretse, who is her cousin by marriage, as the Director General of the corruption busting agency in 2009 – a year after he took over as president. Weekend Post has it in good authority that cabinet met this week Wednesday and resolved to remove Seretse from her investigatory role at DCEC. As the ultimate authority at DCEC, Seretse was believed to be only rubber stamping the decisions of her junior officials at the agency. Some of the alleged reasons for ejection include the botched investigation of Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) Director Isaac Kgosi.
Kgosi has made headlines recently as been investigated by DISS for possible corruption. DCEC was also of late said to be investigating Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Prince Maele on allegations of bribery. This and other high profiles investigations are said to have irked cabinet. Maele and Kgosi have released statements to clarify matters and clear their names. They denied any wrong doing. After serving for close to 8 years as Director General, it is understood that Seretse who is an engineer by qualification, was seen as ineffective in her position and instead Senior Managers at the corruption busting agency were believed to be calling the shots at the organisation.
Seretse possesses BSc in Construction Engineering and Management from Michigan United States of Americas (USA). She joined the DCEC in 1997 as a Senior Corruption Prevention Officer. She has served within the different divisions of the DCEC at various levels including being the Performance Improvement Co-coordinator. This publication can confirm that cabinet made a resolution to eject Seretse from DCEC and she will be redeployed to head a newly established organisation named Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA).
BERA’s main mandate is to make sure that there is responsible competition in the industry of energy, particularly as all along Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) had been the sole company allowed to generate and sell electricity. With the establishment of BERA, under the leadership of Seretse, all independent power producers would now be allowed to enter into the industry to generate electricity. Seretse was head hunted to lead BERA by the board of the new organisation particularly as they were looking for someone with the potential to fight corruption in mega projects involving billions of tax payers’ money.
She was also seen, by BERA board, as strong enough to take far reaching decisions that may involve high magnitude corruption and with the highest integrity on institutions dealing with billions of pulas. Cabinet took the decision to appoint her, after BERA board head hunted her and later made a recommendation to the minister, who in turn acceded the request and consequently cabinet also appointed her on a 5 year contract as BERA CEO. Seretse was notified by BERA board, during the head hunting, of their intention to appoint her in which she agreed.
She did not apply for the job and following cabinet approval; she is expected to be furnished with letters of appointment next week and would be given 7 days to accept the appointment. Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security Advocate Sadique Kebonang also confirmed the exit of the DCEC Director Seretse to a new organisation of BERA which falls under his ministry.
“Yes I can confirm that cabinet has relieved Seretse as DCEC Director General and also approved her as CEO of BERA for 5 years effective September 1st. However she is yet to be notified of the appointment and she will most probably next week,” Kebonang told Weekend Post when quizzed on the development. According to Kebonang, Seretse has to accept the appointment first and therefore she will be given seven days to do so. He also confirmed that indeed Seretse was head hunted as she was seen as the most suitable candidate for the new position.
Having joined the DCEC in 1997, Seretse was promoted to the position of the Deputy Director (DCEC) in 2007 overseeing all the divisions of the Directorate being Investigation, Corruption Prevention, Public Education, Intelligence, Legal Services and Corporate Services. Among the professional courses that she attended on anti corruption work includes money laundering, investigators course, business ethics and accountability, corporate governance, prevention of corruption, managing project risks and project management.
Seretse also has a Masters’ in Public Administration from the University of Botswana, and is expected to leave DCEC end of August.
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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.