Among the things Kutlwano Matenge seems to have inherited from his father Gobe is the fate line. Matenge Senior rose through the ranks from a messenger to Permanent Secretary in a compelling story of rags to riches.
Kutlwano did not exactly rise from messenger to permanent secretary but his rise to the top followed a similar fate line. He trained as a primary school teacher, but fate had other plans. Armed with a teaching certificate, he never took his place at the front of a classroom. Instead, he went straight from his desk at a teacher training college to helping farmers grow crops and look after cattle.
His first posting was at Tjizwina village before he was transferred to Mathangwane. Two years down the line, Matenge trained and acquired a certificate in Community Development at the then Botswana Agricultural College.
In 1977 he went for further training at Zambia’s Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation where he graduated with a Diploma in Social Youth Work.
Upon his return he was deployed to Tutume as District Youth Officer for the sub-district before earning a transfer to Tsabong in the Kgalagadi District. While in Tsabong he was promoted to Senior Youth Officer.
Although Matenge has fond memories of his stint in Kgalagadi, he had a lot of challenges to contend with. He remembers the unforgiving stretches of sand which passed for roads, the dark villages with no hope of electricity and the village with no electricity and only one shop.
Far from the protective embrace of his parents, the young Matenge grew up fast under the tutelage of the late Chapson Butale who later rose to cabinet minister.
“Kgalagadi moulded me into a man. That is where I really felt the challenges of life as I was removed from my parents and had to fend for myself. One had to think outside the box in order to cope with the kind of life that we were exposed to. However, life was generally enjoyable because the people were very hospitable. There were only a few of us and we worked cordially as a team and that made life easy”, said Matenge with a wry smile across his face.
He said in 1979/80 there was a serious drought in Botswana and government declared Kgalagadi District the most drought stricken area and measures were put in place to mitigate the effects of the drought on the residents of the area.
Because of the drought, he was appointed the Southern Kgalagadi Drought Coordinator where he worked with the current Permanent Secretary to the President Eric Molale who was then the District Development Office for the district. Apart from working with Molale on the drought project, they also shared an office.
He said at the end of the drought coordination project he was transferred to Hukuntsi in Kgalagadi North to head the Department of Social and Community Development. Although Hukuntsi was also a far away and remote area, one of the things that Matenge relishes about the area is that there was plenty of wild animal meat because there were no hunting restrictions at the time.
He also reckons that at the time it was agonizing for one to be informed that he was being transferred to Kgalagadi because the area generally lacked a lot of facilities and the nearest town was Lobatse which was some hundred kilometres away. In 1982 Matenge was transferred back to Tsabong where he deputized the Chief Community Development Officer.
However his career defining moment came when he was transferred to Serowe as Senior Youth Development Officer responsible for the whole Central District. His duties entailed formation of youth clubs, organizing youth rallies and engaging out of school youth in skills developing activities.
He says Serowe was more challenging because of the vastness of the district. In 1984 he was transferred to Mahalapye sub-district as Head of Community Development where he coordinated social welfare programmes, home economics and community development programmes in general. He on occasion acted as the sub-district council secretary.
In 1987 Matenge earned yet another transfer to Jwaneng Township on promotion as Chief Community Development Officer and Head of the Social and Community Development.
After a four year stint in Jwaneng Matenge like the rest of civil servants who were occasionally transferred got another transfer to Selibe-Phikwe Township.
While in Selibe-Phikwe he was seconded to Ngamiland District in 1994 as deputy coordinator for the Contagious Bovine Pleuropnuemonia (cattle lung disease) where he once more deputized Molale with the specific duty of coordinating the relief programme for the affected people.
According to Matenge, this was the most challenging moment of his career as he was entrusted with the duty of ensuring that delivery of relief measures to the affected people whose cattle had been killed to contain the further spread of the disease to other areas of the country.
“We had to create employment for the affected people. We rolled out a holistic programme to build schools, kgotlas and other services that provided gainful employment for the affected people. All the able bodied people had to be found some form of employment. It was my responsibility to ensure that they got that employment. Others had to be provided with food rations as their only source of livelihood in the cattle had been killed. We also had to provide counselling. It was a traumatic moment for the Ngami people. It was a mammoth task. We coordinated all the social services programmes.” said Matenge adding that he was forced to traverse the entire district and find all the people who needed government support.
“I was forced to travel the entire district and identify people who needed assistance. I am happy that at the end of the day nobody complained that we had not covered him. It was a job well done and our principals were equally happy with our service delivery”, he said.
He added that the only unfortunate thing is that he developed gout because he ate a lot of meat since the slaughtered animals were fit for human consumption and in his entire life he had never been exposed to such plenty meat.
“I quite enjoyed the challenges that came with the job. At times we had to sleep in the bush in order to ensure that our job is done judiciously. There were a lot of us from different government departments and my duty was to ensure that we delivered on our mandate. It was a trying time for the people of Ngamiland and we had to be committed in the kind of job we had been assigned to do. It was taxing but at the end of the day we prided ourselves with a job well done”, said Matenge adding that the beneficiaries also appreciated their efforts and government assistance at the time.
In Matenge’s view, the coordination helped build team spirit and for him it was a good experience to have been part of the team that went out to help other Batswana at their time of need. He stayed in Ngamiland for four years.
At the completion of the cattle lung disease coordination project, Matenge was transferred on promotion to the Southern District as Deputy Council Secretary. It is here that he worked hand in hand with the late Bangwaketse Paramount Chief Kgosi Seepapitso IV and then council chairman Peter Siele.
While Kgosi Seepapaitso had numerous clashes with civil servants in his jurisdictional area, Matenge says he related extremely well with the late Bangweketse Kgosi.
“He was such a traditionalist who wanted to be respected. I never had problems working with him because instead of summoning him to the Council Chambers, I took the trouble to follow him at his Kgotla and brief him on the projects that we intended to undertake. To me he was a not a trouble maker. It just depended on how one handled him. That approach endeared me to him to the extent that even after hours he would on occasion join me for a drink. He was quite a wise man and I enjoyed his counsel. I learnt a lot of things from him including the Bangwaketse culture”, said Matenge with a wide smile adding that Seepapitso was a nice and fatherly person.
He said Seepapitso and Siele made his stay enjoyable in the Southern District because they were cooperative in all respects.
After his stay in Kanye, Kutlwano earned a promotion which took him to Gaborone as City Clerk.
“It was my first time to work in the capital city. I inherited a lot of problems in Gaborone. There was the Daisy Loo saga. I had to deal with the “immature” mayor Nelson Ramaotwana. There were a host of problems in Gaborone. The political challenges were huge. Service delivery was another challenge. There was a terrible backlog of collection of rates and levies. The roads were congested and street lights were not working. There were problems of sewerage and the city was just too dirty”, said Matenge.
He said it took him a lot of time to understand the Daisy Loo case and that consumed a lot of his time to deliver on the other social services that the residents of Gaborone were in dire need of.
“I was caught in between. That was the critical time of the Daisy Loo case as payment was stopped. There was also the informal sector and the political leadership was not supportive. It was real hell working in Gaborone. But I leant that it was important to understand and follow procedures to the letter in order to avoid issues like the Daisy Loo saga. Despite the rough terrain, I still managed to survive”, said Matenge.
He said In Gaborone he realized that there was a lot of infighting as opposed to Ngamiland where all the departments were focused on their assignment.
Matenge said he is happy that the challenges notwithstanding, he managed to deliver on a lot of projects during his tenure as the Town Clerk including preparing the project memoranda. He however left most of the projects he initiated incomplete upon his transfer to Selibe-Phikwe.
As fate would have it, Matenge’s life was not easy in Phikwe because of the political infighting that saw a number of litigations wherein the mayor, Lekang Mukokomani wanted him dismissed.
“That was another immature young politician who caused a lot of trouble in that township. We were lucky that the courts vindicated us at the end of the day. My consolation in Phikwe were the cooperative residents”, said Matenge.
The other thing that he cherishes is that in Phikwe he shrugged off the failure tag that he had received from Gaborone.
Matenge’s stay was short-lived in Phikwe as he was then transferred to Francistown. He said although the political climate is not hostile in the second city, there are a lot of challenges in management as well as shortage of funds.
“The management is sloppy. I am leaving a lot of unfinished work and I just hope my successor will be able to inculcate a spirit of service delivery and implement the Master Plan that we have drawn “said Matenge adding that unlike in Phikwe and Gaborone, Francistown is blessed with a very cooperative mayor in Shadreck Nyeku.
On his retirement plans and whether he is not intending to join politics like most of his predecessors, he said he has no ambitions to join politics because he had been exposed to the dirty world of politics as Town Clerk in Gaborone and Phikwe.
“I am going to my home village of Matenge to enjoy my retirement. I have worked for the rest of the country and now it is time to go and participate in developmental issues of my village. You should also remember that I am the Chief of Matenge although my uncle is currently holding the fort. At the right time when he says I must take over that is what I intend to do”, said Matenge in conclusion.
