Last week the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) arrested and charged three journalists for publishing an article about a matter they were investigating, contrary to Section 44 of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act (CECA). The main character in the article was one Jerry Chitube, now a prohibited immigrant who rose to the limelight earlier this year after he was whisked away by intelligence officers while attending a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) youth wing congress.
After his arrest, Chitube was declared a prohibited immigrant and deported to his native Zambia. Revelations that emerged after his deportation gave insight into Chitube’s roller coaster lifestyle, where he rubbed shoulders with the BDP high command and brokered multi million Pula deals for them. Just who is Jerry Chitube? Born of a Motswana mother and Zambian father, Chitube did his primary school in Taung and later attended Marang CJSS at around 2001, where he was also a member of the ballroom dancing club. After junior school he went to study in Gabane and later left for Australia where he studied security.
“When he came back from Australia I ran into him at the mall. He was holding a baby girl that he said was his daughter. He also introduced me to his South African wife, who surprisingly was not the mother of his daughter,” said one of his friends.
Chitube also told his friends that he was working at the Office of the President. They had no reason to doubt him because he was living the good life, putting on expensive suits, always on the phone talking business with high powered politicians and government officials, and always flush with cash. On the club scene, Chitube was a big spender. His friends called him Absolut, in reference to the high end club at Masa Centre, where he often entertained his friends at great expense. Chitube was a well respected man at Absolut, who once tipped the bar man with P1000 and the bouncer with P700. His friends also described him as a party animal and a heavy drinker. He had a penchant for fine single malt whiskey that he drank straight up and never diluted. He could also hold his liquor, a man who could guzzle whiskey all night long, do business and dance the night away at the same time. Chitube was the guy who could pull out P2, 000 and give his friend without batting an eye lid.
“He was splashing money everywhere and he never ran out. The funny thing was that he didn’t have a car, he only used cabs,” said one of his friends.
Chitube once bought his friends P1000 tickets for the BDP’s 50th anniversary fund raising gala dinner at the Golf Estate. It was there that one of his friends met a Zimbabwean national called Gumbo, who revealed that Chitube was helping him to set up a business in Botswana. A few months later, Gumbo called the friend looking for Chitube, saying he had disappeared with his P1.3 million. Another friend said he once saw Chitube with a group of South African nationals for whom he was facilitating a tender for supply of computers to the University of Botswana.
“He would hire a big Mercedes Benz to pick them up at the airport. The same guys later called me saying he had disappeared with their P1.5m. I also know of a South African national called David Kgophane who was also swindled by Chitube,” she said.
His friends knew that he had three passports from South Africa Botswana and Zambia.
“At night he was the guy next door, partying hard at the club on jeans and a t-shirt. By day he was the suave businessman in a pin stripped suit, switching conversations on three cell phones and conducting multimillion Pula business deals. He once had a South African mine owner fly all the way to Botswana, give him millions and fly back to SA,” said his friends.
But his fairy tale came to an abrupt end earlier this year when he was abducted by intelligence organs while attending the BDPYW national congress, where he was a candidate for the chairmanship. After his arrest, information started trickling in that Chitube was in fact a criminal who was under investigation by the country’s intelligence organs. He was accused of duping South African businessmen into giving him millions with promises of lucrative government tenders. It was also revealed that Chitube was not a Motswana as he had forged his Omang.
However, no explanations came forth as to how he managed to fool the BDP top brass, gain the confidence of high ranking politicians, businessmen and government officials, obtain membership of the ruling BDP and contest for the chairmanship of the youth wing, which would garner him a seat in the central committee, right next to President Ian Khama. While no answers were forthcoming from Tsholetsa House, BDP insiders insist that Chitube was a creation of the BDP and Botswana’s intelligence organs. He was a powerbroker who enjoyed the backing of the party top brass. Allegations abound that he was coerced into contesting for the youth chairmanship when it became clear to the party leadership that their preferred candidate, Andy Boatile would not have it easy against his challenger Thabo Autlwetse.
“The system created Jerry when they thought Andy would lose. His main role was to work on Autlwetse’s strongholds. Within a week of campaigning, he had turned the whole western region and parts of southern. He worked wonders because he managed to take away about seven of Autlwetse’s constituencies within a week to congress. That’s why Andy won,” said one of the BDP youth.
There remains no doubt that Chitube was a power broker, a high flying mover and shaker who had a seat at the high stakes roulette tables of Botswana’s rich and famous. He allegedly sourced campaign funds for the BDP and brokered high stakes deals involving even top civil servants. As is the nature of BDP, it was inevitable that Chitube and his BDP handlers would one day be headed for a collision course. Cracks started emerging when Chitube started questioning the decisions of the BDP high command. They did not take kindly to being second guessed by a minor. Again, said the insiders, he was becoming a liability as he had cheated on too many people. And so it was that Chitube was deported and PI’ed. But his deportation backfired as it only resulted in frenzy of insightful media reports on the dirty dealings of the BDP top brass.
Those who know Chitube say he could not have gone down that easily.
“This guy can come and go as he pleases. This talk of deportation is just deception,” they said.
