The extent of the internal backbiting in deep dark corners of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party may not yet be fully known.
But what is becoming increasingly clear from the murky political play book of the party is that it may not be at peace with itself.
Dr. Thapelo Matsheka’s axing as Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development was almost inevitable. He was removed as Finance Minister and transferred weeks after threatening to resign from cabinet.
Late last year Mpho Balopi resigned as Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development.
Conceding that the President is the appointing authority, the former Cabinet Minister on Monday confirmed that he was no longer part of President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Cabinet.
Speaking in a brief interview with The Telegraph, Matsheka confirmed that he had been dropped from Cabinet.
“I don’t know how you want to describe it. The fact of the matter is that I am no longer a member of Cabinet,” he said. He added that “the President is the Appointing Authority.”
This publication had asked Matsheka to comment on a savingram issued Monday by Permanent Secretary to the President Emmah Peloetetse which showed that Matsheka had been replaced by Local Government and Rural Development Minister Eric Molale.
Sources say that Matsheka’s exit from Cabinet is no surprise.
“He had hinted at quitting Cabinet and seemed to have lost interest in Cabinet positions after he was redeployed to a lower ministry by hierarchy within the executive. I think he would just serve as a Member of Parliament for Lobatse,” said a source close to the latest development.
The former minister took to social media on Monday morning to set the tone for his exit from Cabinet.
“Monday sets the tone for the week. Mondays are fresh starts. Mondays are for Go-Getters,” he stated on his Facebook page.
Matsheka also stated that, “It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you implement that effort into your life. Every single day, that’s where transformation happens. That’s how change occurs. Keep going. Remember why you started.”
Described as one of the most competent finance minister that Botswana has ever had, his redeployment in 2020 came as a surprise to a number of people. In fact, The Telegraph’s sister publication, Sunday Standard reported last year that Matsheka’s redeployment shocked some people. He holds a Phd in Economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom, an MPhil in Monetary Economics from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and a BA in Economics and Demography from the University of Botswana (UB).
After a stint teaching monetary and macro-economics at UB, he became founding Chief Executive Officer of the Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency and after serving for seven years, joined AON Botswana as its CEO. In 2017, he left AON in 2017 to establish Fiducia Services, a business support services company that is based at the Gaborone International Finance Park.
After winning the MP seat for the Lobatse constituency, Matsheka was the clear favourite to become finance minister and was indeed appointed to the position. With that appointment, Matsheka became the first financial economist to become finance minister. Naturally, people were shocked when he was redeployed and it has been alleged in the media that the redeployment happened because he proposed an audit of Covid-19 expenditure, Sunday Standard reported.
