BY KABELO SEITSHIRO
Sedireng Serumola is a possibly the right man in Botswana to share how it feels like to have the lightening strike twice but for a very good reason.
This week, Serumola was named the new managing director of Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) replacing the ousted Tabake Kobedi.
The new appointment comes hardly three weeks after he was named the assistant manager at Debswana’s Jwaneng mine.
Serumola’s predecessor Kobedi quit DTCB top position some several months back following his suspension from duty pending investigations that have been on since September 2018. The suspension came after social media burst that Kobedi had a sexual relationship with a minor, an accusation he later refuted.
Fast forward to July 2019, DTCB acting Chairman -Abraham Keetshabe confirmed the replacement of Kobedi with Serumola.
“One of his notable contributions in 2008, was in improving diamond cleaning processes at Jwaneng Mine during the time that the then BDVC was transitioning to Diamond Trading Company Botswana,” reads the statement signed by Keetshabe.
Amongst other things, Serumola has been credited for successfully transitioning the Cut 8 project in Jwaneng mine from contractor to owner as well as commissioning the newly launched project – Cut 9.
Serumola holds a BSC (Hons) in Mining Engineering (Mineral Processing Option) from Queen’s University in Canada and an Msc in Engineering Management from the University of Cape Town.
He started his mining career with the Department of Mines in 1996 before joining Geoflux Consulting Engineers in 2002 as a Process Engineer. He joined Debswana -Jwaneng Mine in 2004 and has made significant contribution to the success of Jwaneng Mine, both from a leadership and technical perspective.
Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTC Botswana) is a 50/50 Joint Venture partnership between the Government of the Republic of Botswana and De Beers. It is the world’s largest and most sophisticated rough diamond sorting and valuing operation, with a capacity to sort 45 million carats a year. The company sorts and values Debswana Diamond Company’s rough diamond production.
