inBUSINESS Issue 14

JULY 2017 | ISSUE 14 | www.inbusiness.co.bw
JULY 2017 | ISSUE 14 Inspiring the Entreprenuer Botswana InBusiness Magazine
‘Love Lightens Labour’
at Galaxy Liquids
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PAGE 22
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TRIBUTE TO MASIRE: Botswana’s Membrane of Protection Takes a Bow- P22

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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

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EXCHANGE
At Botswana Stock Exchange, our mission is to
“To drive sustainable economic growth by
providing a gateway for raising capital and
accessing investment opportunities.”
Our Vision
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Our Core Values
Innovation • Integrity • Sustainability • Efficiency •
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Botswana Stock Exchange • @TheOfficialBSE • Botswana Stock Exchange
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 3

CONTENTS
IN THIS ISSUE
05 | EDITORIAL COMMENT
• All hail Masire, the youth et alia
16
06 | NEWS
• Barclays, Liberty Life combine to rid customers of anxiety
• Francistown’s Spaghetti Road a Major Beacon
• BTC Announces Positive Year End Results
08 | INTERNATIONAL NEWS
• Djibouti Opens Key Project at Lake Assal
10 | THE GLOBAL COLUMN
• ‘When the Japanese Came to Town
12 | COVER STORY
• ‘Love Lightens Labour’ at Galaxy Liquids
16 | ANALYSIS
• Adapting the Workplace for Millennials
18 | IN CAREER
• Adapting the Workplace for Millennials
20 | YOUTH IN BUSINESS
• ‘I AM INSPIRED’
16
22 | TRIBUTE TO MASIRE
• MASIRE: Botswana’s Membrane of Protection Takes a Bow
• ‘Kabila didn’t want no power-sharing with Congoman’
• Masire, “the Precocious Lad from Kanye”
30 | ENTREPRISE
• Kooagile of Monate Wa Temo
32 | AGRICULTURE
• Conservation Agriculture Initiative in Zimbabwe
34| TOURISM
• ‘HOPE IN A DESERT’
38 | HEALTH
• Mothers Who Kill: Are They Going Against Nature?
38 32
40 | TECHNOLOGY
• THERO MATENGE ‘Drones’ to the Top
42 | LIFESTYLE
• FOOD
• BOOK REVIEW
44 | MOTORING
• VW Golf GTI Clubsport S
• AFTER THE STORM: SA’s Toyota Gazoo Pair Dominated the Sand Dunes
• DAKAR: The Ultimate Race
46 | SPORTS
• Khama speaks at ‘Re A Ba Tsaa
50 | COMMUNITY
• GAME CHANGERS donate Life Skills Handbook to Jwaneng School
DISCLAIMER:Many contributing writers to inBusiness are experts from various fields serving and providing advice to our readers in their individual capacities.
That advice is the expert’s own and he/she is solely responsible for the information and opinions that he/she expresses. These experts may have interests in particular
products, services or business entities that may influence the advice that they give. However, inBusiness is not responsible for any loss or damage, including - but not
limited to - claims for defamation, error, loss of data or interruption in its availability arising from use of such advice.
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

EDITORIAL
JULY 2017
All hail Ra-Gaone, the youth et alia
EDITORIAL
EDITOR
Douglas B. Tsiako
NEWS EDITOR
Tuduetso Tebape
WRITERS
Malebogo Ratladi
Raymond Moremi
Ononofile Lonkokile
MARKETING & ADVERTISING
Bone Letlole
Disoso J. Pheto
DESIGN & LAYOUT
Nkagisang T. Molefhe
PHOTOGRAPHY
Baagedi Setlhora
CONTRIBUTORS
Alpha Molatlhwe
ADMINISTRATION
GENERAL MANAGER
Babetsha J. Paphane
PUBLISHER’S PA
Disoso J. Pheto
ADMIN OFFICER
Leah Nkobedi
CONTACTS
Plot 22148, Unit 12A, Gaborone West
Industrial, P O Box AD9ACJ, Gaborone,
T +267 3191 401 F +267 3191 400
info@inbusinessbw.com
inbusinessbw.com
Scan QR Code Below to download
our contacts to your mobile phone
The month of June, notable for its low temperatures that can dip below zero in southern
Africa when the sun has receded to the northern climes of the globe, is the Month of Youth
in Africa. As is well known, it takes this designation from the Soweto Riots that began on
June 16, 1976, a day that is commemorated throughout the African continent as the Day of
the African Child. For some people, is a moot whether this remarkable day is a time for celebration or
deliberation. Here at inBusiness, we hold that it is an occasion for both because of the heavy import of
the original day on one hand, and the results that flowed from it, albeit with much difficulty, on the other.
As we noted in our February edition, Nelson Mandela once warned that any country that failed to invest
in its youth had better prepare to face a future of uncertainty. In saying this, the leader of the world’s
biggest liberation movement in history was also underlining the critical role of young people as agents
of change. More notably, Mandela was pointing the world to June 16 when the youth in South Africa
contracted to confront apartheid as an inevitable means to obtaining freedom within their lifetime.
It had been 13 bleak years to the month after Mandela was sentenced to life on 12 June 1963. It would
be 18 short but cruel years to South Africa’s first democratic elections in April 1994. It had been 324 long
and troublous years since Jan van Riebeck’s ominous shipwreck at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
Thankfully, as it enters its second decade of existence, the United Nations is becoming increasingly
partial to women, children and the youth and is urging countries to do the same by means of empowerment
programmes. However, Mandela’s warning does not seem to have percolated sufficiently to
authorities in Botswana, a country whose children, according to research, are the most vulnerable for
countries not at war, where sexual molestation of children is rife within families, where legislation for the
protection of children is inadequate, where relevant authorities are woefully ignorant of children’s issues,
and where young people attempting to draw attention to growing youth unemployment and other issues
have been beaten up by the police.
inBusiness intends to drive home the point that this is an unacceptable state of affairs in an age where
human trafficking is a growth industry that threatens to outstrip any other ‘business,’ legit or otherwise.
Indeed, research indicates that human trafficking is the second most profitable global activity after arms
and narcotics, and that trafficked children are used to create pornography.
The average age of the affectionate ones caught in this vicious trap is, by the way, a mere 12 tender
years.
But the callow state and innocence of adolescents - especially ‘millennials’ who evidently cannot resist
the allure of the Internet - makes them vulnerable to the wiles of sinister cybercriminals who have taken
residence in the world wide web to entrap the Digital Generation with offers of ‘relevant’ opportunities at
exotic destinations where charm flows from an inexhaustible wellspring. Heelang!
It is for this reason that inBusiness aims to make a serious call for the training of young people in the
proper use of the Internet and how to watch out for signs of trouble. We say “serious” because a sense of
the casual has often attended these calls in the recent past, probably because there is a poor understanding
of where our country stands in the course of this nefarious activity – how much we are source, a
transit route or a destination of trafficked human beings, especially children.
We shudder to think what a ghoulish link in human trafficking Botswana must be because vulnerability
is a state that defines us in just about every respect, making our children and youth easy prey for all
manner of inducement.
But if June is the Month of Youth at the level of the Mother Continent, we know that July is a presidential
month in the Republic of Botswana. We thus take the opportunity to hail President Ian Khama
and his predecessor Festus Mogae. Sadly, the nation has just laid to rest the remains of former president
Ketumile Masire, a much beloved man who gave his country the All Party Conference and under whose
stewardship Botswana’s became the fastest growing economy in the world. We doff our hats to this
eminent statesman whose diplomatic abilities brought peace, or a semblance thereof, to countries where
pig-headed enemies were sworn to mutual destruction. In these pages, we also salute founding president
Seretse Khama as the man who gave this country a robust foundation in democracy, creating a synergy
into which both Masire and Mogae tapped and built upon. The combined legacy of these distinguished
three men should never be allowed to come under any threat.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 5

NEWS
Barclays, Liberty Life combine to rid customers
of anxiety
•Product are Specially Tailored for Chronic Illnesses
•Up to 15m in Life Cover is Within Reach
Words: Tuduetso Tebape
Two of Botswana’s leading
financial institutions,
Barclays Bank and Liberty
Life, have combined to
give customers access to a
variety of products that will
relieve them of the anxiety that comes
with chronic illnesses.
Barclays recently announced the
addition of two products, Tshireletso
Life Plan and Bosele Life Plan, which
are underwritten by Liberty Life “to
empower our customers”.
Speaking at the launch of the
products WHERE WHEN?, Barclays
Bank’s Retail Director Brighton
Banda said the Tshireletso Plan gives
customers finances to assist with living
and treatment expenses upon first
diagnosis of a chronic illness.
“These chronic illnesses include a
heart attack, heart failure and cancer up
to a limit of P250 000 without need for
6
medical tests,” he said.
The Bosele Life Plan has a much higher
threshold, giving Barclays customers
access of up to P15 million of life cover
with optional benefits such as physical
impairment and permanent disability.
Liberty Life, which has a longstanding
history in developing and
delivering BancAssurance products,
is the underwriter of both Bosele Life
and Tshireletso Life plans from Barclays
Bank Botswana.
Speaking at the same occasion,
Liberty Life’s Managing Director Lulu
Rasebotsa explained the partnership
between Liberty Life and Barclays Bank
further. “Liberty Life Botswana as the
underwriter of these products with
Barclays Bank,” she said. “Together
we have insurmountable experience
in providing Batswana with bespoke
products and services designed to
enhance the quality of their lives.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017
“Our partnership with Barclays
Bank is indeed a natural fit. It is the
coming together of two strong brands
deeply rooted in Africa. We have a full
appreciation and understanding of our
people and our diversity of cultures. We
know what is needed for them to lead
prosperous lives, free of worry about
the future. Through the Bosele Life and
Tshireletso Life plans, we are further
giving our mutual clients an opportunity
to secure the future of their families,
should they no longer be able to.”
Answering a question from inBusiness
Magazine during the Q & A segment
of the launch, Rasebotsa said the two
life insurance products being launched
are defined as Gap Cover. She defined
gap coverage as products designed to
help cover out-of-pocket expenses that
can add up considerably. It therefore
supplements traditional medical
insurance.

Francistown’s Spaghetti Road a Major Beacon
Words: Modiri Mogende
Botswana’s second city has been
in the doldrums lately. Francistown,
which has had a fairly vibrant
mining sector for almost a
century, was almost brought to
its knees by the closure of Tati Nickel Mine as
part of a larger BCL provisional liquidation in
the last quarter of last year.
A combination of poor commodity prices
and BCL’s inability to service its debt led to the
abrupt shutdown of BCL’s operations. A significant
section of the city’s population was hit hard
as employees were laid off in a chain reaction
that affected suppliers, retailers, transporters,
landlords and vendors.
But the gloom enveloping Francistown is beginning
to lift, giving way to optimism in the
construction sector where the building of Botswana’s
first suspended traffic intersection is
underway.
In the wake of the mine’s closure, the Mayor
of Francistown, Sylvia Muzila, told the city
council that the focus would go its Vision 2022
that envisages transforming the city into an investor-friendly
destination. The ‘spaghetti road’
project would be harnessed to take the city out
of its current economic malaise, she added.
“Our aim is to promote our city and its independent
businesses, shops and market stalls to
draw people in,” the Mayor said. “Francistown
is a unique and thriving community where visitors
enjoy our tourism attractions. We want to
help grow businesses and increase employment
for our people.”
The suffocation of the city did not spare
SMEs. One of them is Ogno Ndlovu, the owner
of a welding business that used to service equipment
for some of the mine’s contractors. “We are
seeing a significant decrease in client activity,”
Ndlovu told inBusiness this week. “I’m worried
because mines used to come under care and
maintenance for short periods, but I don’t think
that is the case now. There is just bad news all
over the place.”
Even so, Ndlovu is stubbornly optimistic:
“I’ve been in this business for a long time and
there has always been a comeback. I believe with
time we will emerge from this a lot stronger.”
Taxi driver Badisa Keokontse is worried that
people may be relocating from a city that he
loves. “These are tough times,” he said. “We have
been charging the same fare for a long time, and
when you add mine closure to that, it is just bad.
That mine gave us our biggest client base.”
BTC Announces Positive Year End Results
Words: Tuduetso Tebape
Botswana Telecommunications
Corporations Limited’s (BTCL) total
revenue for the financial year that
ended in March this year increased by
8% compared to the previous financial
year. The increase was by growth in fixed
data and mobile revenue.
Cash balances shot from P390million
to P516million and were boosted by
the capital raised during listing in 2016.
Additionally, cash generated from
operations increased by 32% from P254
million the previous year to P335million.
Total assets increased by 19% from
the prior year’s P1.9 billion to current
year’s P2.3 billion. Properties, plants
and equipment grew by 23% due to the
rollout of mobile network expansion,
billing platforms and other strategic
programmes.
“The BTC‘s strategy of transformation
and growth is to create a viable business
and shareholder value, focusing on
business development, customer
experience, operational efficiency,
innovation and a culture of high
performance,” said BTCL Managing
Director, Anthony Masunga, recently
when he presented the company’s
financial results during a BTC store
opening at Railpark Mall in Gaborone
recently.
Masunga said the telecommunications
landscape continues to evolve with
further liberalisation of the market.
BTCL thus remains “very optimistic”
about its future prospects as it continues
to leverage on its unique product
offering and wide network coverage
to consolidate its position to become
a market leader in communication
services.
“The company will continue to make
significant investments in its network
and people in order to provide quality,
reliable and affordable services to
customers, while creating value for
shareholders,” Masunga said.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 7

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Djibouti Opens Key Project at Lake
Assal
Djibouti recently opened the
Port of Ghoubet as a key
terminal for the export of salt
from the world-famous Lake
Assal. The US$64 million
facilities, which took two years to complete,
were officially inaugurated by the country’s
president, Ismail Omar Guelleh.
Key hub for salt exports
The facility can accommodate ships up to
100,000 dwt, with the potential capacity
to export over five million tonnes of salt
throughout the world.
Remarked Aboubaker Omar Hadi, Chairman
of the DPFZA: “The new port of Ghoubet
represents yet another example of the
advanced infrastructure and state-of-the-art
facilities which are establishing Djibouti as
a major logistics platform for Africa. It is
also a vital step for our country’s economic
diversification by creating opportunities for
the export of Djiboutian salt throughout the
world”.
Further development in northern Djibouti
Located 40 kilometres south of the Gulf of
Ghoubet, the new port was the second to be
launched in the north of the country within
a week. It follows the launch of the Port of
Tadjourah on 15 June – a facility dedicated to
the export of potash.
Both projects are part of the government’s
efforts to develop critical infrastructure in
the north, including the redevelopment of
regional highways.
Multi-modal infrastructure network
Djibouti sits at the centre of world trade
routes, connecting Asia, Africa and Europe.
The country has become the gateway to one
of the fastest growing regions of the world,
with 30 000 ships transiting the port each
year.
The project at Lake Assal is the latest in a
comprehensive network of multi-modal
infrastructure, which includes both specialist
ports and larger multipurpose facilities, such
as the Doraleh Multipurpose Port, which also
opened earlier in June.
Other parts of this infrastructure network
include the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway
– a new 752km track linking Ethiopia’s
capital with the Port of Djibouti – as well as a
Liquefied Natural Gas facility, an oil terminal,
two brand new airports, and new highways.
Together they will dramatically expand
Djibouti’s ability to serve as a platform and
trade hub for the region.
Background
The Djibouti Ports and Free Zones Authority
(DPFZA) is a governmental body overseeing
ports in the country. The organisation also
oversees national free trade zones, serving as
a liaison between companies working therein
and other government agencies.
DPFZA is the sole authority in charge of
the administration and control of all the free
zones and ports in Djibouti. The entity also
plays an instrumental role as the sole interface
between the free zone companies and any
other governmental bodies and comes
under the direct authority of the Djibouti
Presidential Office.
The DPFZA holds several mandates, among
them:
• Promotion the Djibouti Ports and Free
Zones as a commercial and logistic platform;
• Establishment of a business-friendly
environment with a business-oriented legal
framework (Law No 53/AN/04/5eme L
aiming the Free Zone Code dated 2004; Law
No 103/AN/05/5eme L regulating Free Zone
Companies dated 2005);
• Regulation of the ports through a Board
of Directors; as well as
• Creation of new ports and free zones
8
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 9

THE GLOBAL COLUMN
‘When the Japanese Came to Town
The last Japanese investment mission could bring a truly cosmopolitan touch to
Botswana because it came to Gaborone ex-Paris, ex-Singapore, ex-SA and ex-
London
The maiden article that inaugurated
On the Diplomatic Front
appeared in the March edition
and featured H.E. Masahiro
Onishi, the Ambassador of
Japan to Botswana. The article exemplified
what the column seeks to achieve – a peek
into the bilateral relations that Botswana has
with various countries around the world and
what effect these relations have on trade and
investment in Botswana and the comity of
nations with which it belongs.
Japan was selected as the first country to
cover for various reasons, the main one being
how the vast physical distance between the
two countries has not prevented establishment
of constructive diplomatic relations and
consummation of mutual economic ties that
have now passed the 50-year mark.
Over these years, as Ambassador Onishi
explained, much effort has been made by
the Embassy of Japan to Botswana to ensure
a positive impact on the local business
environment through various activities that
the embassy spearheads.
This past month saw the Embassy of Japan
spearhead yet another such activity. The Japan
Business and Investment Mission to Botswana
hosted the Botswana Trade and Investment
Centre (BITC) to tap into and build this
synergy between “the Land of the Rising Sun”
and Africa’s oldest democracy.
To say the mission was well attended would
be an understatement, especially considering
the distance travelled by many to be here and
the calibre of companies that came to enquire
into doing business in or with Botswana. It was
attended by 42 delegates from 21 companies,
as well as four of Japan’s public entities over
two days that included a business forum, a
sight tour of select manufacturing plants and
one-on-one meetings between Japanese and
Botswana company representatives.
On the opening day of the Botswana-
Japan Roundtable, Ambassador Onishi spoke
about what the forum aimed to achieve.
“The purpose of this mission is to create a
better understanding of Botswana’s business
environment and network
building,” he said. “The
participants in the mission
come not only from Botswana
and South Africa but Mainland
Japan, London, Paris and
Singapore. The fact that we
have a lot of participants in the
mission demonstrates the high
level of Japanese companies’
interest in Botswana.”
Speaking on behalf of the
Ministry of Investment, Trade
and Industry, Permanent
Secretary Peggy Onkutwile
Serame characterised the
mission as “one of the largest
business delegations from
Japan to have visited any
country in the southern
African region”. She continued: “As such, your
presence here today bears testimony to the
keen interest you have in Botswana. This week’s
engagement with the Japanese delegation,
including this roundtable, is a reaffirmation of
this commitment from both governments to
strengthen the relationship and collaboration
on matters of mutual interest.”
Presentations addressed topics such as
An Overview of Botswana’s Investment
Climate and Priority Sectors by Serame, An
Introduction to the Botswana Stock Exchange
(Mandate and Services) presented by the
bourse’s CEO Thapelo Tsheole, and Dialogue
with Botswana and Japanese Business
Executives. These were followed by keen
discussion and a Q & A session that revealed
significant future opportunities for the two
countries.
In his presentation, Tsheole disclosed an
interesting but little known fact about capital
and its movement outside Botswana, saying
50% of Batswana save their money outside the
country. “Botswana also exports capital,” he
said.
Sight tours took in Chloride Oxide
that makes Taurus-powered batteries and
Phakalane Estate in Gaborone. The party then
made a road trip to Lobatse’s PASDEC plant
where electrical wiring for Renault, Nissan and
Volkswagen vehicles is done.
At the Chloride Oxide plant, the combined
party of Batswana and Japanese investors heard
that in addition to solar powered batteries,
the plant makes 60 different types of battery
for motor vehicles and golf carts. Another
revelation came to the fore in Lobatse – namely
that PASDEC had relocated there for labour
stability and government incentives after 47
years in South Africa. “We started in 2016
and will have a total of 570 employees by the
time the Nissan operations are fully relocated
to Botswana,” said Matsheledi, a spokesman of
the company.
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

MIND OVER MATTER
Be The Master of Your Own Destiny
Winners don’t necessarily do different things; they do them
differently, writes KOZIBA MALIBALA
How would you like to become the
captain of your ship and master
of your own destiny?
You may have noticed that the
world is waking up. More and
more people are starting to ask the question,
“Isn’t there more to my life than this?” Deep
down there is a yearning in all of us to find out
what we came here for – who we are, what to do
with the time we have, and what we truly want
in life.
Take a look at all the people around you. If
you look closely enough, you will see people who
aspire to be more and who are actually doing
something about it. If you look just a bit more
closely at these people, you will see what lies
beneath the surface. Most notably, you will see
two underlying categories in which these people
fall.
You will see people who have their hands in
everything trying to make something work.
Opposite this lot, you will see people who are
focused on one thing –their gift. They are
constantly working on that one thing God has
given them.
When incarcerated at Robben Island, Nelson
Mandela turned the words of the poem Invictus
by William Ernest Henley in his head, reciting
them to himself and his fellow inmates as a
lesson that life’s greatest opportunities can
often be hidden in the greatest adversity: This
internal desire to continue unabated is what
sustained Mandela when in prison.
The lesson is that it is easy to blame others
and it can even feel good. However, it can never
be as good as when you overcome the challenges
in your own life. If you’ve been feeling as if
you were at a crossroads in your career or
relationship, you should know that there is
something you can do about it. You may be
struggling to stay connected to what’s important
to you or lack clarity about what your purpose
is. The thing to do is decide today that you will
live lead a purpose-driven lifestyle. Once you
have made this decision, there can be no turning
back. So educate yourself by learning about
people who have achieved what they wanted to
achieve. Act on your goal every day, meditate on
it to gain focus and clarity and see the results
unravel before your eyes. In that way, you can be
the master of your destiny.
What Is Destiny?
The common definition of “life purpose” or
“destiny” can be misleading. For me it comprises
three parts: your gifts, your desires and your
challenges. This means that who you are –the
identity of your soul identity combined with
your human identity. That is your destiny. Your
destiny is what you do best combined with what
you want and what challenges you the most. It is
certainly not the Holy Grail where all challenges
dissolve into love and light. There is a shadow
aspect to destiny and this is where the true
mastery lies.
Why Master Your Destiny?
When you cooperate with your soul, you
open up to receive a flood of additional energy
to drive you along your path. Your soul already
has a plan for you in this life. It knows what it
wants to contribute and what it wants to learn.
Aligning with your destiny has a snowball effect:
over time, as you cooperate with what your soul
wants for you, you gain power and strength. It
is like feeding a tree what it needs to develop
strong roots. It will eventually flourish and bear
fruit year after year. Without cooperating with
your soul, you miss out on this additional energy
and you face greater resistance because you are
going against your natural flow.
Where to Begin?
Mastering your destiny begins with
identifying your natural gifts. This is what you
inherently know how to do well, often even
without thinking. Each of us is designed to have
a unique impact on the world around us. When
we are awake to the impact, we can consciously
focus on enhancing this gift. That way we
become masters of our destinies.
Name Your Gifts
What are your top five most prominent
gifts? We each have many traits that form our
identities, and the ones that truly matter are
the most prominent ones – the gifts that show
up in our lives day after day. It is not possible
to master them all, so we need to focus our
attention on the ones that will yield the greatest
rewards. To do this, we need to put our gifts into
words. Our minds become oriented towards
those traits as being of primary importance. If
you have trouble identifying your natural gifts,
ask the people you work with, your friends, and
your family and see what they notice most about
you to discover your hidden potential.
Identify and Work With The Opposites
How does your gift challenge you? Every
gift has a challenge; a pattern that you need to
overcome in order to access the full potential
of the gift. In other words, your gifts will show
up as recurring resistance or challenges to
help you better understand and apply the gift.
For example, if one of my gifts is creativity, the
challenge may be to funnel my creative energy
and ensure that it doesn’t get blocked. So the
challenge may show up as feeling frustrated or
stuck, which I must learn to master in order to
access the gift.
Practise Applying Your Gifts Daily
How can you turn your gift into a skill? To
become a master at anything, you need practice.
The more time you focus on channelling your
gifts, the more you will understand your actual
potential and the range within which your can
be applied. For example, I use my gift of insight
to help others see their own gifts in my work,
which means I am consciously refining this gift
week after week.
Quantify and Qualify
What is the impact of your gift? As you apply
your gifts in different situations, notice what
happens. How do people respond? How does the
situation change? What are the benefits you or
they experience? Sometimes the benefits may be
measured. For example, if I apply my creativity
to design a kitchen appliance, the benefits may
be reduced water usage, cleaning time or service
cost. But in other scenarios, the benefits may be
harder to quantify. For example, if I apply my
gift of wisdom to help a person connect with his
purpose and potential, the benefits for him may
be greater clarity, confidence and possibly an
improvement in overall health. You don’t have
to be paid for your gifts to quantify or qualify
their impact, but doing so will help you to learn
from what works well and what doesn’t.
Close the Loop How do you want to receive
appreciation for what you give? Gift mastery is
made possible through giving and receiving. We
must receive some sort of recognition for our
gifts in order to reach the next level of mastery.
Receiving acknowledgement for our gifts allows
us to stoke our internal and external resources
to not only continue giving them but to feed our
sense of personal power and self-actualisation.
Recognition can come in many forms – verbal
acknowledgement, gifts or money. You may also
choose the form of recognition you desire and
ask for it. What matters is that you are open
to receiving the recognition. The energy you
are consciously giving in the form of your gifts
is returned to you, provided you are open to
receiving.
To conclude, let me remind you that you are in
charge and that gift mastery is a lifelong process.
The key is to do it consciously; to know what you
are mastering and how. Successful people know
what their gifts are and are consciously using
them to help themselves and others.
Remember this: Winners don’t do different
things, they do things differently!
For comments kindly email me at: koziba@
kozibamalibala.com
Online Profile
Website: www.kozibamalibala.com
Facebook: @kozibacatherinemalibala
LinkedIn: @kozibam
Twitter: @kozibam
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 11

COVER STORY
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‘Love Lightens Labour’
at Galaxy Liquids
You know it’s ‘the real McCoy’ when workaholics and ‘alcoholics’ meet in a happy symbiosis at a
confluence of cocktails that sits on wooden pallets inside which Phemelo and Bone mix stimulating
beverages in recycled atcha jars for their cucumbered customers. However, as RAYMOND
MOREMI reports, even the sober and the slow-on-the-bottle are catered for at Galaxy Liquids
where getting plastered is not compulsory
Running a business can be a matter of passion,
especially when the enterprise is fired up by
romance. Such is the case in the partnership of
Phemelo Kabomo and Bone Babuseng, the latest
pair of lovebirds in Botswana’s growing ranks of
‘co-preneurs,’ as business partners who share a
personal life are called.
These are two young visionaries – each aged 22 - whose
individual hunger for success is making a perfect combination
for quaintly-named Galaxy Liquids, a one-year old self-funded
mobile bar service company that is on every party planner’s wish
list in Gabs because it is taking the art and craft of mixing drinks
to a new level.
The duo’s one-time realisation that all the food stalls at a
friend’s private event were taken up and a desire to meet the
people’s expectations with a touch of class was the impetus
behind their quirky business venture. They set up a beverages
stall that became an instant hit with everyone at the event.
Following this success, it seemed only natural for them to
join forces and register a start-up that would provide bespoke
cocktails, customised drinks and a wide range of personalised
beverages in a mobile bar setting. The results have been nothing
short of awe-inspiring.
Made of wooden pallets, the hip bar brings a refreshing
approach to recycling by using what would have been discarded
atchar bottles which are obtained by arrangement from Choppies
for use as jars to serve their creative cocktails in, and customers
are happily sipping away. This is an eco-friendly bar where there
is never any question of compromising ethics for style or vice
versa.
Says Phemelo: “Our partnership with the Choppies
supermarket chain shows our earth-friendly approach to
business. We dare to be different from the competition by
recycling while remaining current and relevant. We may not be
experts in environmental science but we are demonstrating use
of post-consumer material.”
The mobile bar service is largely an untapped market in
Botswana. And while there are a few start-ups, Galaxy Liquids
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is well-positioned to become an industry
leader. Phemelo explains: “We did our
homework, researching the market and
identifying suitable suppliers before
anything else. We have been fortunate to
get support and amazing feedback right
from the start.”
“That is very true,” Bone picks up the
cue. “Going into this type of business
comes with its highs and lows, but we’ve
already built a loyal and supportive
customer base. We’ve established
connections that really work and are
excited about prospects for growth.”
As the lovebirds talk about their
innovative business, their body language
communicates an unmistakable mutual
fondness. And while they make no
attempt to hide it, they succeed in keeping
electrical disturbances in check. In one
short year, they have built an impressive
portfolio of events that ranges from small
intimate parties to sizable exhibitions and
social gatherings like weddings.
They have served up their talent at the
potluck marketing jubilee that is Chill
Step Sunday, the colourful and ubiquitous
Holi-One Festival, the meat lovers’
jamboree that is Lobatse Beef Fest and
Tashy’s Royal Garden where newly-weds
may get bold and beautiful, to name but
a few.
Finding an apt business name was
a challenge, but when Bone suggested
“Galaxy Liquids,” they instantly agreed it
had the right ring. “We aim to reach for
the stars with our enterprise,” says Bone,
adding that the Milky Way - which is the
galaxy of our Solar System that contains
100 billion planets, including Earth, and
400 billion stars - should inspire more
cosmic names for more celestial cocktails.
“She is smart, straightforward and
practical. That is what’s so fascinating
about running a business with her,” says
Phemelo of his partner, suddenly starryeyed.
“She has a really beautiful smile that
can light up a room, and this makes it
easy for our customers to relate with her.
She has that magic touch that wins over
clients.”
Similarly, Bone believes her partner
has a winning formula. Says she of him:
“He blends persistence with razor-sharp
creativity that helps rally customers
around our enterprise. He is quite proactive,
and I like that.”
Having such different but
complementary qualities should ensure
that unlike most co-preneurs so far, they
won’t get on each other’s nerves. With
this duo, the yin and the yang seem to be
in full harmony. They say this was clear
when they first laid eyes on each other in
2015 through a mutual friend. They now
speak of an instant spark similar to what
happens when a psychedelic drug hits the
bloodstream: Mind-altering, except theirs
was unadulterated love, and they knew it.
“I knew I was in the grip of love at first
sight,” says Bone. This was because in
addition to slight flushes on the cheeks,
they soon discovered that they had a lot
in common, including listening to the
same music and pursuing the same course
of study at the same school. They are
currently students of CIMA at Botswana
Accountancy College. “Here we are more
than a year later, and I couldn’t be happier,”
says Bone before returning to the matter
at hand - their business.
“This industry comes with a lot of
challenges. We have to deal with different
kinds of people who drink alcohol. Some
often become a nuisance but we’ve learnt
how to deal with such problems.” Phemelo
agrees:
“We’ve had our
challenges, but
each hurdle and
success has made
us even stronger
as a couple in love
and in business.”
An only child raised by a single
mother, Phemelo says he learnt early
the values of kindness, hard work and
tenacity. Being of a Christian family, it
was not easy convincing his mother about
the ‘rectitude’ of going into the alcohol
business. But in the end, she gave him her
blessings.
On the other hand, it was a while before
Bone let her mother and older brother in
on what she’d been getting up to when not
at school. And it was not easy because they
are a close-knit family in which secrets
have little room. “I had to assure my mom
that although the business was alcohol, I
was cool and wasn’t getting drunk,” she
says.
These two will tell you that running a
business together as a couple is funkier
and sexier than most things in the Milky
Way, especially when the lolly starts rolling
in. At the moment, their main goal is to
build and grow the Galaxy Liquids brand
with the money that is coming in. And
that goal is far from unattainable because
Galaxy Liquids places emphasis on
unequalled professionalism, ensuring that
its services are in accordance with clients’
needs. From the taste of their beverages to
the aesthetics, Galaxy Liquids brings that
extra zing to keep ahead of the curve.
In a nutshell, Bone and Phemelo are
a rising pair of mixologists and cocktail
flairers that shares the disenchantment
of the unemployed. Hence they aim to
expand their business in order to hire
more people.
Ah, young love! What are these
two really up to – a partnership or a
courtship? We think theirs is a cocktail
with a difference. In both spheres. And so
inBusiness wishes you well. In love as in
business!
14
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ANALYSIS
CAN TRUMP DESTROY OBAMA’S LEGACY?
But no matter what Trump does, he cannot eradicate what will be the first line in Obama’s obituary:
the fact that he was the first epoch-making African-American President of the United States because
Americans build monuments to people who prod their country toward the egalitarian vision of
Jefferson’s declaration
Donald Trump
WASHINGTON: When the judgment of
history comes, former President Barack
Obama might have figured he would have
plenty to talk about. Among other things,
he assumed he could point to his health
care programme, his sweeping trade deal
with Asia, his global climate change accord
and his diplomatic opening to Cuba.
That was then. Five months after
leaving office, Obama watches mostly in
silence as his successor takes a political
sledgehammer to his legacy. Brick by
brick, President Donald Trump is trying to
tear down what Obama built. The trade
deal? Cancelled. The climate pact? Forget
it. Cuba? Partially reversed. Health care?
Unresolved, but to be repealed if he can
navigate congressional crosscurrents.
Every new president changes course,
particularly those succeeding someone
from the other party. But rarely has a new
president appeared so determined not
just to steer the country in a different
direction but to actively dismantle what
was established before his arrival.
Whether out of personal animus,
political calculation, philosophical
disagreement or a conviction that the last
president damaged the country, Trump
has made clear that if it has Obama’s
name on it, he would just as soon erase it
from the national hard drive.
“I’ve reflected back and simply cannot
find another instance in recent American
history where a new administration was
so wholly committed to reversing the
accomplishments of its predecessor,”
Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the
University of Virginia’s Miller Centre, said.
While other presidents focus on what they
will build, “this one is different, far more
comfortable still in swinging the wrecking
ball than in developing models for what is
to follow”.
Shirley Anne Warshaw, director of
the Fielding Centre for Presidential
Leadership Study at Gettysburg College,
said Trump is not unusual in making a
clean break from his predecessor. “Trump
isn’t doing anything that Obama didn’t
do,” she said. “He is simply reversing
policies that were largely put in place by a
president of a different party.”
With a flourish, Trump has staged
signing ceremonies meant to show him
tearing down. Not only did he pull out of
the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal
and the Paris climate accord, he approved
the Keystone XL pipeline that Obama
had rejected and began reversing his
fuel-efficiency standards and power plant
emissions limits.
Not only is he trying to repeal
Obamacare, he has pledged to revoke
regulations on Wall Street adopted after
the financial crash of 2008.
Still, he has not gone as far as threatened.
He has for now kept Obama’s nuclear
agreement with Iran, however reluctantly,
and while he made a show of overturning
Obama on Cuba, the fine print left much
of the policy intact. He did not rescind
Obama’s order sparing younger illegal
immigrants from deportation.
Senate Republicans released a new
version of legislation to repeal and replace
Obamacare in recent weeks, but it may yet
end in impasse, leaving the programme in
place.
Advisers insist Trump is not driven by a
desire to unravel the Obama presidency.
But like the Manhattan real estate
developer he is, they said, he believes he
must in some cases demolish the old to
make way for the new.
“He hasn’t dismantled everything,
and I don’t know that that’s exactly what
he’s looking to do,” said Hope Hicks,
the White House director of strategic
communications. “That may be a side
effect of what he’s building for his own
legacy. I don’t think anybody’s coming into
the office every day saying, ‘How can we
undo Obama’s legacy, and how can he go
back?’ ”
Yet Trump has depicted the Obama
legacy as a disastrous one that needs
unravelling. “To be honest, I inherited a
mess,” he said at a news conference soon
after taking office. “It’s a mess. At home
and abroad, a mess.
“Jobs are pouring out of the country.
You see what’s going on with all of the
companies leaving our country, going
to Mexico and other places, low pay,
low wages, mass instability overseas no
matter where you look. The Middle East
is a disaster. North Korea. We’ll take care
of it, folks.”
16
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Critics say Obama brought this on himself.
His biggest legislative achievements
were passed almost exclusively with
Democratic votes, meaning there was no
bipartisan consensus that would outlast
his presidency. And when Republicans
captured Congress, he turned to a
strategy he called the pen and the phone,
signing executive orders that could be
easily erased by the next president.
“I’ve heard it joked about that the
Obama library is being revised to focus
less on his legislative achievements as
each week of the Trump administration
goes by,” said Matt Schlapp, chairman
of the American Conservative Union. “It’s
like living by the sword and dying by the
sword. When your presidency is based
on a pen and a phone, all of that can be
undone, and I think we’re seeing that
happening rather systematically.”
Obama would argue he had little choice
because of Republican obstructionism.
Either way, he has largely remained quiet
through the current demolition project,
reasoning that speaking out would only
give Trump the public enemy he seems to
crave.
However, he recently (June 22) made an
exception, taking to Facebook to assail
the new Senate health care bill as “a
massive transfer of wealth from middleclass
and poor families to the richest
people in America.” But Obama’s team
takes solace in the belief that Trump is his
own worst enemy, better at bluster than
actually following through.
“Obama’s legacy
would be under much
greater threat by a more
competent president
than Donald Trump,”
said Josh Earnest, who
served as Obama’s White
House press secretary.
“His inexperience and
lack of discipline are an
impediment to his success
in implementing policies
that would reverse what
Obama instituted.”
Other Obama veterans said much of
what Trump has done was either less
dramatic than it appeared or reversible.
He did not actually break relations with
Cuba, for instance. It will take years to
actually withdraw from the Paris accord,
and the next president could rejoin. The
real impact, they argued, was to America’s
international reputation.
“There’s a lot of posturing and, infact,
not a huge amount of change, and to the
extent there has been change, it’s been of
the self-defeating variety,” said Susan E.
Rice, the former national security adviser.
“What’s been happening is not that
the administration is undoing President
Obama’s legacy; it’s undoing American
leadership on the international stage.”
Trump, of course, is hardly the first
president to scorn his predecessor’s
tenure. George W. Bush was so intent on
doing the opposite of whatever Bill Clinton
had done that his approach was called
“ABC” - Anything but Clinton. Obama
spent years blaming his predecessor for
economic and national security setbacks
- blame that supporters considered
justified and that Bush’s team considered
old-fashioned buck passing.
For decades, presidents moving into
the Oval Office have made a point on
their first day or two of signing orders
overturning policies of the last tenant,
what Riley called “partisan kabuki” to
signal that “a new president is in town.”
The most tangible example is an order
signed by Ronald Reagan barring taxpayer
financing for international family planning
organisations that provide abortion
counselling. Clinton rescinded it when he
came into office. Bush restored it, Obama
overturned it again and Trump restored it
again.
Even so, neither Bush nor Obama
invested much effort in deconstructing
programmes left behind. Bush kept
Clinton’s health care programme for
lower-income children, his revamped
welfare system and his AmeriCorps
service organisation. Obama undid much
of Bush’s No Child Left Behind education
programme but kept his Medicare
prescription medicine programme, his
AIDS-fighting programme and most of his
counter-terrorism apparatus.
That was in-keeping with a longer
tradition. Dwight D. Eisenhower did
not unravel Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New
Deal, nor did Richard M. Nixon dismantle
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. Reagan
promised to eliminate the departments of
Education and Energy, created by Jimmy
Carter, but ultimately did not.
Obama understood that his legacy
might be jeopardised by Trump.
During last year’s campaign, he warned
supporters that “all the progress we’ve
made over these last eight years goes
out the window” if Trump won. Only after
the election did he assert the opposite.
“Maybe 15% of that gets rolled back,
20%,” he told The New Yorker’s David
Remnick. “But there’s still a lot of stuff that
sticks.”
Indeed, when it comes time to tally the
record for the history books, Trump can
hardly reverse some of Obama’s most
important achievements, like pulling the
economy back from the abyss of a deep
recession, rescuing the auto industry and
authorising the commando raid that killed
Osama bin Laden. Nor can Trump take
away what will surely be the first line in
Obama’s obituary, his barrier-shattering
election as the first African-American
president.
Conversely, Obama owns his failures
regardless of Trump’s actions. History’s
judgment of his handling of the civil war
in Syria or the messy aftermath of the
intervention in Libya or the economic
inequality he left behind will not depend
on his successor. If anything, America’s
decision to replace Obama with someone
as radically different as Trump may be
taken as evidence of Obama’s inability
to build sustained public support for his
agenda or to mitigate the polarization of
the country.
But legacies are funny things. Presidents
are sometimes defined because their
successors are so different. Obama today
is more popular than he was during most
of his presidency, likely a result of the
contrast with Trump, who is the most
unpopular president this early in his tenure
in the history of polling. By this argument,
even if Trump does disassemble the
Obama legacy, it may rebound to his
predecessor’s historical benefit.
Richard Norton Smith, who has directed
the libraries of four Republican presidents,
said presidents are often credited with
paving the way toward goals that may
elude them during their tenure. Harry S.
Truman is called the father of Medicare
even though it was not achieved until
Johnson’s presidency. Bush is remembered
for pushing for immigration reform even
though Congress rebuffed him.
“It’s hard to imagine future historians
condemning Barack Obama for breaking
with his country’s past ostracism of
Cuba or joining the civilized world in
combating climate change or pursuing a
more humane and accessible approach
to health care,” Smith said. “Indeed, we
build memorials to presidents who prod
us toward fulfilling the egalitarian vision of
Jefferson’s declaration.”
But that may not be all that comforting to
Mr. Obama. Presidents prefer memorials
to their lasting accomplishments, not their
most fleeting.
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IN CAREER
Adapting the Workplace for
Millennials
A PWC report shows that millennials tend to be self-obsessed because they live in a digital world of
self-focus. But being surrounded by a host of results-oriented innovators as they are, today’s young
people have an admirable sense of purpose
Words: Modiri Mogende
It is a time for change. The workplace is
going through probably the most drastic
shifts in decades as millennials find their
place in the world. Millennials, presentday
young people born in the Internet
age, are starting to shape the workplace.
They range from their 20s to early 30s and have
different views and priorities when it comes to
work.
According to a Price Waterhouse Coopers
report on millennials, young people have
seen that corporate loyalty doesn’t necessarily
bring rewards or even long-term security
in today’s economic environment. It is clear
that many millennials are keeping an eye out
for new opportunities even if they are not
actively looking for a new job. Indeed 38% of
the millennials questioned who are currently
working said they were on the lookout for new
opportunities, and a further 43% said they were
not actively looking but would be open to offers.
According the PWC report, the bad news for
employers is that only 18% of those questioned
planned to stay in their current role in the
long term, “only one in five (21%) said they’d
like to stay in the same field and progress
with one employer (graduates in South and
Central America were most likely to take this
view). It’s possible that this is partly because,
as we’ll discuss later, some have had to make
compromises in finding their first job and are
planning to move on as soon as they can.”
Purpose becomes a critical reason for them
to even work. Millennials in most cases want to
change the world. They are growing up in an era
of innovators that are changing the way we do
just about everything - think Mark Zuckerberg,
Elon Mask, Larry Page and all of Silicon Valley
heads. These are brains that have become pop
stars because of their innovative achievements
are changing the world. It is this sense of
purpose that a lot of young people are not only
looking to earn a buck in the job but are also
looking to get gratification in seeing their work
make significant change.
The study shows global trends, and in a time
when the world has become smaller due to
increased connectivity, young people in the West
are more likely to relate with those in developing
countries. This interconnectivity provides
a challenge for the traditional workplace as
human resource trends are then enhanced in
terms of shifts. The millennial generation’s world
is digital, and this has an inevitable effect on
the way they communicate. Forty-one percent
(41%) of those questioned said they would rather
18
communicate electronically than face-to-face
or over the telephone. So Facetime, Whatsapp
groups, Facebook and Skype, to mention the
prominent ones, all become working tools for
interactions.
Personal time is important for millennials.
While they sometimes come across as selfobsessed,
they are growing up in an era of
constant self-focus. The work/life balance has
always been a priority for millennials, and this
year’s results reinforce that view, with 95% of
respondents saying the work/life balance is
important to them and 70% saying it’s very
important.
The PWC research found that employees in
many industries could be rewarded by results
rather than the number of hours worked
and allowed to decide when and where to do
their work. Long hours are often encouraged
and rewarded without any measure of the
productivity involved. PWC’s research results
are thus challenging the traditional 9 to 5 model
of work. Young people are demanding reflection
of time spent and value input in rewards. It’s a
model that also improves delivery. However,
according to the PWC report, millennials from
Japan were the least concerned about striking
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017
the right balance, but still 85% said that the
work/life balance is important to them.
Even the furniture in the workplace is
changing. Adaptive working spaces with mood
settings are being hip and employers are being
forced to make such investments.
Going into the future, PWC research shows
the majority (67%) expect to be better off than
their parents’ generation and 32% expect to be
considerably better off. Generally, millennials
in Western Europe are less optimistic, with 54%
believing they’ll be better off than their parents’
generation and 26% believing they’ll be worse
off. North American millennials are among the
most optimistic, with just 13% expecting to be
worse off than their parents and 68% expecting
to be better off.
“And although they expect to be better off,
most millennials have not thought about their
retirement. Millennials in North America are
the best prepared, with 59% saying they have
already thought about how they will pay for
their retirement. Turkish (22%) and Russian
(19%) millennials are the most likely to say that
they’ll continue to work past retirement age, but
only 5% of millennials across Western Europe
believe the same.”

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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 19

YOUTH inBUSINESS
‘I AM INSPIRED’
… says Chawa, the lingerie seamstress whose ‘Vintage’ range includes
erotica blended with a tinge of exotica
Words: Malebogo Ratladi
Women’s
undergarments
have evolved over
time. They have
gone from severe,
restrictive torture
devices and ‘barely there’ little things
to the focal point of an outfit. Affected
by style trends and the larger cultural
climate of the times, lingerie has
experienced a transformation like few
other fashion categories, starting with
the crazy corsets of the early 1800s that
made a comeback in the 1960s and
’70s through to today’s underwear-asouterwear
motifs.
But one constant has always been
that lingerie is a piece of clothing that
hints, teases, flirts and taunts but never
reveals all. In French, the language from
which the stem of the word comes,
lingerie refers to the undergarments of
both men and women. But in English,
the term gender-specific and refers to
the undergarments and nightclothes of
women.
Like the bikini - whose name curiously
comes from the site of the first testing
of the atomic bomb in the Marshall
Islands in 1946 - it is mainly associated
with the Western world. But unlike the
explosive but tiny article of clothing, the
word ‘lingerie’ was first used to refer to
women’s underwear and brassieres in
1922.
A young Motswana from the village of
Senyawe in the North East District has
taken it upon herself to bring this item
of subversive seduction to her country
by means of Vintage, a company
where she designs and makes lingerie.
inBusiness Magazine caught up with
Chawangwa Tebogo Mankuzini to hear
the story of the lingerie seamstress and
her business.
20
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‘Vintage’ Lingerie
Q: When did you establish Vintage?
A: I made a few pieces for the 2006
BOCCIM Fashion Show and True Blue
magazine in the same year. But for
some reason I didn’t continue until 2016
when I registered Vintage.
Q: Initial capital outlay can be hefty
for any project. Where did your
capitalisation come from? Self?
Government programmes?
A: The Ministry of Youth, Sports and
Culture helped me start the business by
funding me with P50 000 in 2009. Most
of it went to equipment.
Q: Kindly give us a brief description
of Vintage.
CM: Vintage is a sleepwear and
underwear brand that is locally
designed and manufactured. That is the
long and short of it. I am self-inspired. I
just love lingerie, so I create pieces that
look good on me because I know they
will look good on other women.
I believe women should look their
best not only in the intimacy stakes
because it’s about a woman feeling
fabulous about herself. It is another
way of giving yourself some self-love
and appreciation, which brings out
of self-confidence. Mind you, there’s
nothing wrong with a degree of selflove
because Jesus H. Christ preached
it. So long as it doesn’t degenerate into
Narcissism.
Q: What quality control measures do
you have to ensure your products
are of good quality?
A: As a fabric artist, I produce clothing
of great quality in both material and
construction. There are items that I
have not started producing yet because
I am working on their quality assurance
before they may go into production.
That’s how thorough I try to be.
Q: Who supplies Vintage with its
quality fabrics?
A: There is not much that one can get
in Botswana, so I import almost all the
material. Ideally, I should be getting
my raw materials locally as that would
create more jobs. But there is close to
nothing here.
Q: Share with us your Vintage
range.
A: I currently make pyjamas of different
styles - negligées, an assortment
of knickers, slips, brassieres, robes,
bodysuits and chemises. My product
line ranges from erotically naughty
pieces to sweet sugar and spicy ones.
Vintage will soon have pieces that are
specially designed for plus-size women
that will be as pretty as the petite
range.
From constant interaction with our
customers countrywide, I am able to
zero in on what they really want. What is
special about Vintage Lingerie is that it
is not boring, run-of-the-mill underwear
because we shun middling here. All the
pieces have a signature style and so
just have to make a statement!
Q: What about marketing? How do
you advertise Vintage?
A: As I had said, we are the new kid
on the block; still fairly little known
but sensational because we pack a
punch. ‘Bang’ is the word, I suppose,
because we are kind of ‘pussyfooting’
with erotica at the moment. Thus far
my products speak for themselves in
the sense that the individual for whom I
produce spread the word.
I get a lot of enquiries from women
who have seen their friends with
Vintage pieces. In due course I’ll have
a Facebook page and run a mini expo
in which I’ll be chatting with men and
women regarding good dress
sense. I see you raise your
eyebrows but I have indeed
been approached by men
who want to kit their lovely
wives out in my lingerie.
Some of them want to buy
seductive lingerie for their
partners.
Q: What challenges do you
encounter in the day-to-day
running of your business?
A: The main challenge that
most of us have as local fashion
designers is competing with stores that
sell imported clothing at exorbitant
prices. The point is that most people
still do not know the difference
between mass produced stuff and
customized designer clothing. As I
said, as a lingerie designer I also
have the challenge of accessing my
raw materials. I would have a design
concept in my mind but it is often a
challenge finding the appropriate
material. This difficulty has a bearing
on price, and I hope people would
understand this about my products
being made of imported fabric.
Q: What is the source of inspiration
for your designs?
A: From all sorts of things. My latest
line, “Sweet Love,” was inspired by
both 1930s and ’50s fashion with a
modern touch. In it I use sheer mesh
with lots of frills and ribbons. The
pieces ‘embody’ a lot of my personality.
Q: Where do you see yourself 10
years from now?
A: Ten years from now? Vintage will
be a global brand, of course. That
a promise, and I don’t make idle
promises.
Q: Where can people your
products?
A: Mine is still very much a cottage
industry because I sell from home at
the moment. My home is my factory
and store. But Boutique Concept Store
has a
so
certain appeal, and
my Vintage range
should soon
be available
from there. I’m
working on it.
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TRIBUTE TO MASIRE
MASIRE: Botswana’s Membrane of
Protection Takes a Bow
Words: Douglas Tsiako
While they were
not conceived
for the purpose
when they were
first published in
October 2001 and July 2007 respectively, the
thrust of these articles is how South Africa
watched as Masire tackled the most difficult
part of his presidency as the leader of “the
most frontline of the Frontline States” and
what turned out to be his mission in life:
building confidence among warring parties
22
in different parts of the African continent
before bringing them to the table for a
cessation of hostilities and lasting peace.
In this role, regional and international
organisations - mainly the AU and the
United Nations - dispatched Masire to
dangerous destinations in search of what was
Africa’s most elusive commodities, peace and
prosperity, at a time when the so-called Cold
War often became an infernal conflagration
in which proxy forces carried out the
geopolitical designs of what, in the narrative
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of the time, was Western imperialism and
Soviet internationalism.
Masire was in office during the most
cataclysmic time in southern Africa when
the 20th Century’s most abominable
heresy, apartheid, had long found a ready
handmaiden in Zionism to unleash untold
terror on a scale redolent with echoes of
Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Zionism, an
unlikely spawn of Nazism, had found a
natural ally in apartheid, the frogspawn
of Nazism that Hitler had personally
supervised; all three bound by racial
supremacy in a blood-curdling cauldron to
which was added the outrage of what Henry
Kissinger gleefully called “the invincibility of
the white redoubt”.
Many understandably regard America’s
former National Security Advisor and
Secretary of State in the Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford administrations as a war
criminal because his policies were predicated
on support for southern Africa’s white
minority regimes, including the Portuguese
colonies of Mozambique and Angola.
Botswana - then a fledgling multi-racial
democracy - was thus hemmed in on all
sides by open hostility and naked aggression,
becoming an early victim of the double
standards of the West whose tentacles
extended to the Middle East where the
world’s most outstanding state within a state,
Israel, was sticking out like a sore thumb
against Arabia and Persia. It was a time
when this country - specially its relatively
sleepy capital, Gaborone - was teeming with
spies and spy hunters, double agents and
turncoats in an atmosphere where friends
were treacherous and foes plain murderous.
Yet Masire, as the leader of a country that
had come to be known as “an island of sanity
in a sea of madness”, remained unfazed
and unflinching as Botswana continued
to welcome refugees from South Africa,
Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and further
afield. Often ordering dawn raids on certain

efugees and displaying their arms caches,
his was a balancing act between pragmatism
and principle, a precarious situation that
Jesse Jackson summed up as Botswana being
“in the belly of the beast” when foreign
minister Gaositwe Chiepe brought home to
the American civil rights leader the reality of
living next to the world’s most unwanted and
dangerous neighbour.
Incidentally, the Jackson episode of
September 1986 is one that this writer
is much familiar with, having made an
impassioned extempore speech from atop
the main counter in the lobby of Gaborone
Sun soon after the American civil rights
leader and his 50-strong entourage arrived.
It would be a mark of the worst irony
imaginable, the speech went, if Jackson’s
party stayed at a place that often served as
the preferred venue - and therefore staging
platform - for commandos of apartheid
South Africa whenever they came to visit
death and destruction upon agents of change
and their hosts in Botswana, usually in the
dead of night.
At the end of this fervent intervention,
Moruti Jackson and his entire cortege
entered their rooms and quickly emerged
with their luggage that they loaded into the
vehicles of many Batswana who had gathered
to meet the widely popular clergyman and
veteran black leader.
And as though in a scripted scene,
the vehicles fell into a procession to the
African Mall where staff at a restaurant
run by an African American whipped up
an instantaneous meal to feed the crowd
that was now the size of guests at a village
wedding. To crown it all, the Jackson
episode became an outpouring of solidarity
and an occasion for widespread activism
as Batswana reached into their pockets
to pay for the fairly sumptuous dinner as
they listened to an impromptu address by
the celebrated American civil rights leader
himself.
But we digress and must now return to
our protective membrane. Ever calm and
resolute, it was during this difficult time
that Masire’s steady hand got to work to
arrange a meeting between PW Botha, the
finger-wagging prime minister of apartheid
South Africa, and Kenneth Kaunda, the
uncompromising Zambian leader who had
defiantly opened his c ountry for use by the
ANC and its armed wing, Umkhonto we
Sizwe, just outside Tlokweng in the sliver
of no-man’s land between South Africa and
Botswana in April 1982.
In enabling this meeting, called
bosberaad (bush conference) by the South
African press, Masire was emulating his
predecessor, Seretse Khama, who had
facilitated an epoch-making conference
between BJ Vorster and Kaunda aboard
a train on the Victoria Falls Bridge on 26
August 1975. The specially-built ‘peace train’
had caused quite a stir at Gaborone Station
where it slowly passed on its onward journey
to its rather odd destination on a suspended
bridge between unrecognised Rhodesia and a
leading Frontline State.
Unlikely as it seemed at the time, the
stage was set for greater things, especially for
the August 1989 meeting between Botha’s
successor, FW de Klerk, and Kaunda at the
nearby Zambian town of Livingstone. The
year 1989 would prove a watershed during
which PW Botha suffered a stroke that
effectively paved the way for the man who
wasted no time before releasing Nelson
Mandela from prison in February 1990, FW
de Klerk, marking a turning point in the
affairs of southern Africa.
Masire’s Botswana subsequently
played a central role in ushering in a new
dispensation in South Africa. To that end,
Gaborone was the venue for the first high
profile meeting between the ANC youth
league and Jeugkrieg, the youth organisation
of apartheid South Africa’s ruling National
Party at the time.
It was significant that although the
meeting was primarily a confidencebuilding
mechanism for the opposing youth
organisations, the towering figures of the
ANC’s Nelson Mandela and the PAC’s
Clarence Makwetu were present, doubtless
partly as a tentative measure to build bridges
between two of South Africa’s leading
liberation organisations in exile that had
been at variance with each other since 1959.
What better place than the “island of sanity
in a sea of madness?”
And then came the rupture of liberation
in 1994 and the overwhelming aura of
Nelson Mandela. Although the gloss was just
beginning to wear off partly as a result of
recalcitrant white supremacists, the euphoria
Picture: Thalefang Charles
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FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela
and goodwill that followed South Africa’s
first democratic elections in April 1994 still
characterised the new nation in 1998 when a
SADC military expedition entered Lesotho
early on 22 September 1998 to quell unrest
and an army mutiny. Had it been by itself,
the AFC and APC-backed contingent of the
South African National Defence Force would
have achieved the opposite. Thankfully, the
Botswana Defence Force used its experience
in Operation Restore Hope, the UN
peacekeeping mission in Somalia in 1992/3,
as well as similar operations in Rwanda and
Mozambique in 1993/4, to restore order in
the mountain kingdom all round.
Inspite of his country’s limited resources,
Masire was dedicated to peace, in that
way living out his name as a protective
membrane. Even so, in 2001 South Africa’s
Thabo Mbeki and his right hand man, Saki
Maxosoma, found fit to come to Gaborone to
steal the thunder from the OAU-appointed
Facilitator for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.
With peace increasingly in sight in the DRC,
leaders of the new South Africa were anxious
to secure deals, especially in the mining
sector, in resource-rich DRC disguised.
They clothed their efforts in the guise
of their country’s economic interests in a
land where it was already clear that socioeconomic
transformation would become
a frozen mirage and SACU an ex parte
means of South Africa’s domination as
the industrial hub of the sub-continent.
It is regrettable that this should have
happened under the personal direction
of an outstanding friend of this country,
Thabo Mbeki, who paid a heartfelt tribute
to Ketumile Quett Joni Masire in a moving
eulogy in Kanye on Thursday 29 June 2017.
This is a man that this writer holds
in high regard, “Bra T” having used his
immense diplomatic skills to defuse a
Tanzania-led opposition to my candidacy
for the position of Deputy Secretary General
of the Federation of Southern African
Journalists, an organisation that Mbeki
served as Chairman and whose leadership
included representatives of the PLO and the
IRA.
As it soon came to light, the reason for the
East Africans’ obstruction was that Botswana
had never paid its dues to the Dar-es-
Salaam-based Liberation Fund of the OAU
from which contributions were made to the
broader liberation movement. Nevertheless,
one evening at a hotel at the foot of Mount
Mweru in Arusha, Mbeki got to work
among the various delegates to that crucial
conference for activist journalists, and I
assumed my position alongside the likes of
the late Carlos Cardoso of Mozambique.
But it is Masire for whom these columns
are reserved for the special preservation of
an outstanding statesman to whom we pay
our last respects. A friend of the press who
counted journalism among his extensive
pursuits, Ra Gaone once tugged at my
coattails to state that those who overlooked
him should never complain when it came his
turn to ignore them!
The scene was a confined room during
tea at the opening of the Legal Year at the
High Court in Lobatse, and I was having
a conversation with attorney Chris du
Plessis who had recently floored a would-be
apartheid assassin in a Gaborone hotel room
with a rugby tackle.
When I turned to look who was tugging
at my coattails, President Masire sat on
a sofa behind me, his face a study in the
mock petulance of a naughty child: “Lo a
bo lo tla’ itira nkete ga lo re bone, kamoso
lo be lo re ga re bue le lona!,” he said in his
Ngwaketse dialect before breaking into a
hearty laughter. That was Ra Gaone whose
name translates not into veils of secrecy
but a tough membrane for the protection of
Batswana and the many nations for whose
peace he worked without ceasing.
The stories that follow, reprints from
The Clarion of October 2001 and Mmegi
of 13 July 2007, are an attempt to give an
example of what this towering staesman
had to cintend with.
24
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 25

TRIBUTE TO MASIRE
‘Kabila didn’t want no power-sharing
with Congoman’
Inspite of ominous undercurrents at the preparatory talks to pave way for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue,
Masire was convinced of the “irreversibility of the peace process,” writes DOUGLAS TSIAKO
The road to peace in the Congo
has always been fraught with
pitfalls. But the pitfalls there
are not only the craters left
by exploding landmines
and other incendiary devices. There are
more treacherous ones - those of an ethnic
variety in which lie deep tormented psyches
brutalised by war in which a tribe has
suffered at the hands of another tribe.
Two such tribes are the BaNyamulenge
and the InTerahamwe, known to the outside
world simply as Tutsis and Hutus respectively.
The two are the worst of enemies in the
multi-faceted Congo civil war who have
been at each other‘s throat in a rigmarole of
ethnic cleansing over the entire Great Lakes
Region that encompasses the DRC, Rwanda,
Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
Infact, there are those who will say that the
hostility between the two ethnic groups lies at
the very heart of the intractable problems of
26
this region. Michel Rudatenguha is a typical
swashbuckling Congolese of the Kisangani
faction of the Rally for Congolese Democracy
or RCD-Kisangani ML who describes himself
as of the BaNyamulenge clan of “Hutus of
Congo origin”.
The Clarion caught up with him at the
recent ground-breaking talks to prepare for
the Inter-Congolese Dialogue that took place
at the Grand Palm Hotel in Gaborone and
asked him: “How significant is the emphasis
on ‘Hutu of Congo origin?”
“Quite significant,” came the answer.
“Over the years, syntactic and cultural
dissimilarities have developed among us. The
BaNyamulenge of Rwanda are different from
those of Burundi and the two are different
from those of the Congo.”
Until just over two years ago, the RCD
was a unified Rwanda-backed political and
military front that gave the impression of
being a homogeneous home for Hutus. Was
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the split the inevitable consequence of these
“syntactic and cultural differences?” In the
event, it turns out this is not (necessarily) the
case. It would appear the split was the result
of what another Kisangani delegate described
as more substantive differences.
As a military solution to the Congo conflict
proved unavailing, battle fatigue grew into
war weariness among a significant number
in the RCD. The cleavage soon billowed into
a clearly defined division during serious
deliberations that lasted seven days from May
19, 1999. The hawks, under the leadership of
the uncannily-named Adolf Onosumba, were
restyled RCD-Goma and continue to enjoy
support from Rwanda.
The doves, until last November 3 under
the leadership of well-spoken and multilingual
Professor Wamba dia Wamba, were
renamed RCD-Kisangani ML for Liberation
Movement. But these are not typical doves -
docile and decidedly willing to work with the

enemy to achieve peace; witness the belligerent
swashbuckling.
“If we continue to be sidelined, the purpose
of this meeting will not be achieved. And
mind you we control an area equal (in size)
to France one-and-a-half times or all of
Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda put together;
from Kanyabayonga in the south to Isiro on
the border with Sudan. That’s about 13 to 15
million people. Yet only us and the Mai-Mai
have been targeted for segregation.”
Mai-Mai is a collective name for marauding
armed bands notorious for serious human
rights violations, particularly among civilians.
They are linked to the government in Kinshasa.
Meanwhile, throughout the meeting, there
was a groundswell of opinion among members
of civil society and the unarmed opposition,
mostly based in Europe and North America,
that they too were being marginalised in a
collusion between the Facilitator ‘s office and
Kinshasa.
Infact, the suspicion was being expressed
that ministerial positions were being allocated
to Kinshasa-approved groups inside the
Banquet Room while they were doddering
in the hotel foyer in a hopeless vigil. Which
prompted a highly respected insider to sneer:
“Some of them even wish they were with the
Facilitator‘s structures.”
But in a country of factious tendencies and
ever-shifting alliances such as DRC, no one
could say why a Kinshasa-linked group like
the Mai Mai was also being “marginalised.”
As for infighting within the RCD, at least
Rudatenguha volunteered to ‘malign’ his
former leader Wamba dia Wamba even as they
were here together. Wamba, he said, had been
toppled at an RCD Congress on November 3
last year (he was replaced by Mbusa Nyamwisi)
owing to his “shabby human rights record of
imprisonment and elimination of colleagues.”
However, this picture stood in sharp
contrast to the charm and deliberation exuded
by the amiable professor during an interview
in his hotel room an hour later. “Criteria for
inclusion in the talks and the Dialogue should
not be the capacity to threaten peace,” Wamba
enunciated. They had broken up with the
RCD-Goma, he said, because of differences on
“substantive” issues.
The Kisangani group had come to be
convinced of the need for negotiations to end
the conflict: “The demands were for an end
to the war, reconciliation and democracy,”
Wamba explained.
“There was a need to solve the crisis of
legitimisation with the people. For the war to
succeed, it needed to have been transformed
into a people‘s war. The moral element for
the population‘s support is crucial if you are
conducting a just war.”
The grand old man of Congo politics was
highly critical of Rwanda and its Goma allies
for wanting anyone favourable to them:
“Another Kabila,” he scoffed. For his younger
compatriot, however, the sudden turnabout
by Rwanda and its invasion of the DRC was
justified by the need to end the dictatorship
of Laurent-Desire Kabila who had used the
InTerahamwe to unleash a reign of terror on
BaNyamulenge in Kinshasa, Kisangani and
Lubumbashi late 1997.
“Didn’t want no power-sharing with
Congoman,” Rudatenguha told The Clarion,
using the term by which Tutsis affectionately
call themselves.
Inside the DRC, the InTerahamwe are Hutus
who ran away from ethnic-inspired pogroms
in Rwanda and were used by megalomaniacal
dictator Mobutu sese Seko against the
BaNyamulenge; hence the latter became ready
allies with Kabila‘s forces when he mounted
his putsch against the Mobutu regime. But on
a landscape where shifting alliances are just
about the only constant, Kabila reneged on
promised power-sharing arrangements with
the allies who had helped bring him to power,
turning his wrath on them instead.
Everyone turned against Kabila, forcing
him to call the first Lusaka peace talks.
“We ignored him because we knew he was
weakened,” said Rudatenguha with a relish.
According to him, Kabila was to engage in this
pendulous swing between war and peace in
accordance with his military strength until,
in the end, a young assassin’s bullet wrote the
last line in the DRC’s chapter of vacillation last
January 16. Or so it is hoped.
For it is quite easy to dismiss the sabrerattling
of the likes of Rudatenguha as mere
grandstanding since the firepower of RDC-
Kisangani ML is said to have been severely
curtailed by the split with the Goma group.
But in that temptation could lie the grave
mistake of sidelining the very peace that all
these efforts are about. Rudatenguha speaks
bitterly of the sidelining of his Kisangani
group:
“We received letters dated August 19
from the Facilitator‘s office inviting us to
this meeting,” he said. “The letters were
addressed to only six of us, whereas the
Lusaka Agreement recommended no less than
13 delegates. Moreover, we were being invited
as individuals rather than as RCD Kisangani
ML.
“Even Kinshasa and Goma, who are here
as a group, support us on this point. The
meeting is almost over. But when we raise this
issue, Masire merely says he will look into it.”
And he warns ominously: “Being not a part
of the process, we will not be bound by any
agreement reached here.”
Nevertheless, as he addressed a news
conference late Friday August 24, the
‘maidservant’ of the Congolese peace process
remained robustly optimistic that the
Gaborone talks had achieved a new spirit that
should clear the road of pitfalls and the debris
of war: “I am very optimistic we will see a
successful conclusion of the Inter-Congolese
Dialogue once it takes off,” Sir Ketumile
Masire told journalists at the Grad palm. “The
success of the preparatory meeting evidences
the irreversibility of the peace process.”
(From the pages of The Clarion, October 2003)
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TRIBUTE TO MASIRE
Masire, “the
Precocious
Lad from
Kanye”
In a country that has no legal provision
for releasing classified documents, the
nation of Batswana may never know
exactly what happened when the plane
carrying their president fell from the
Angolan sky at the speed of a rock 19
years ago, writes DOUGLAS TSIAKO
“The media and other interested parties
are informed that (the) Botswana Defence
Force headquarters will not issue any
statements nor will it authorise the crew
of the aircraft to issue any statement about
the incident until the Board of Enquiry has
completed its task,” an official statement said
at the time.
The board was made up of three BDF
officers and two officials of the Department
of Civil Aviation. A parallel investigation,
in which experts from Botswana and British
Aerospace “would have an input”, was taking
place in Angola simultaneously. Known
facts preceding the near fatal incident are
that Sir Ketumile Masire and his delegation,
which included Ponatshego Kedikilwe, then
Minister for Presidential Affairs, and Loiuse
Selepeng, then Deputy Permanent Secretary
in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were
travelling to Luanda for a Frontline States
summit.
But the flight was star-crossed by poor
communication between Gaborone and
Luanda right from the beginning. At the
time, Angola had a decrepit and nonfunctional
communications system, thanks
to the country’s invasion by apartheid South
Africa and its Western allies.
Where contact might have been
established, the spoken word proved to be
another problem in that English-speaking
Botswana and Portuguese-speaking Angola
did not quite readily understand each other,
thanks to colonialism.
The result was that OK1 was intercepted
by a missile from an Angolan jet fighter that
apparently mistook it for enemy aircraft as it
flew over “a restricted area”. It was hit on the
right wing, causing the right side engine to
explode as it ripped through the fuselage.
OK1 was hit as it flew over the Angolan
fortress town, Kuito Bie, which lies
approximated 1100 kilometres northwest of
Maun, and only slightly west of Jamba, which
had been the ‘capital’ of Jonas Savimbi and
his Unita forces for the previous 13 years.
Kuito Bie had a radio facility, but it was
not available for navigational use at the time.
Ten degrees west of Kuito Bie, the town of
Menogue also had a radio facility that was
similarly unavailable for navigation.
OK1 hit the ground 35 000 feet below in
five minutes. But, as we all happily know,
it eventually proved to have been a safe
landing, a feat by any aviation standards.
Two of the crew were Colonel Albert
Scheefers of the air-wing of the BDF and
Captain Ricketts who was on secondment
to Botswana from British Aerospace, the
manufacturers of the Presidential jet.
OK1 had been flying along Corridor UG
853D, which overflies Maun, and Shakawe
inside Botswana, and then cuts across the
Caprivi Strip.
But this route had been closed to civilian
traffic for security reasons 12 months
previously.
The Department of Civil Aviation
confirmed at the time that all civil aviation
authorities - including Botswana’s - had
been duly notified of the fact by IATA, the
28
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International Air Traffic Authority.
Yet statements released by the Office
of the President were insisting that the
Presidential jet had been flying on an
international route “duly cleared with the
responsible authorities in Luanda”.
Asked how OK1 could overfly a
security zone, General Merafhe, then BDF
Commander, said: “What place is not a war
zone in Angola?” Those were the days of the
cold war, which was always rather hot in
southern Africa, especially in Mozambique,
Rhodesia, Namibia and Angola.
Reports reaching Mmegi at the time, and
since, suggested that agents of the Angolan
government had deliberately befuddled
communication with Botswana in order that
Masire’s flight might proceed on a wrong
course and Unita forces ‘take him out’.
The rationale for this cold calculation
levelled against the Angolans was that
President Masire’s government was
unresponsive to repeated Angolan petitions
for Botswana to take control of its airspace
from South Africa in order to prevent the
apartheid regime’s incessant flights bringing
military hardware and other equipment to
Unita.
If South Africa continued the flights
regardless, the argument went, Botswana
could make legitimate noises at the United
Nations and other platforms.
As it turns out, fly on the wrong course
OK1 did. But when, perhaps owing to
transcendental powers beyond physical
existence, Unita did not bring OK1 down,
the MPLA government decided to do the job
itself.
Of course, any attempt to present a
fractured Frontline States will be resisted
and dismissed as no more than another yarn
by conspiracy theorists. But for some people,
such ‘theories’ will not be discouraged by
withholding information from the public,
especially after parallel investigations were
conducted in both countries.
Whatever the truth may be, the Angolan
‘incident’ must illustrate what Masire’s
successor, President Festus Mogae, speaking
on a more recent occasion, has called the
difficulties of being “an African democrat”
during the Cold War. This was a time when
the apartheid regime was at “the height of its
power across our border,” Mogae noted.
It was a time when even Pope John II, on
a visit to Botswana in September 1988, could
only confine his benedictions to telling God
that this country was “a haven of peace in a
troubled sea” despite renewed accusations by
the apartheid regime that Botswana was the
main conduit of military attacks on South
Africa.
This was a time when the white minority
regime exported spies and commandoes
alongside South African goods and services
on which Botswana so hopelessly relied.
* Witness, for instance, Barry Jean Vivier
(29), who had last left Botswana in 1965, only
to resurface on October 1, 1987 as General
Manager of Spar Supermarket in Broadhurst,
Gaborone. He was more than that. Vivier
was charged under the National Security Act
in June 1988.
* Corporals Johannes Basson (25) and
Theodore Hermenson (30), who entered
Botswana legally on June 19, 1988 at
Ramatlabama but went on to fire on an
unarmed police patrol near Kgale.
* The confessions of Ferdinand Prinsloo
(26) who was arrested near Kasane in August
1988 with only P14 in his pocket and turned
out to be a ‘student’ with the widest military
expertise.
In a statement, Prinsloo said he had
served in both the (apartheid) South African
Defence Force and the American armed
forces. When the US embassy in Gaborone
said it was “extremely implausible” that
Prinsloo had been in the American armed
forces, police released further details of
his confession regarding his clandestine
missions for both South Africa and the US.
He had given his number in the SADF as
78328705BT; his number in North Carolina,
“the headquarters of US Special Forces”, as
4024438021SFF; and his computer number in
the US as SF 80 A/XM.
Prisloo had seen action in Angola
“training Unita in the operation of missiles
and other weapons supplied by the US
government”; in Mozambique “training the
government troops; Bolivia, El Salvador,
Costa Rica and Honduras for “the training
of government soldiers; in Chad for “the
training of the resistance fighters in 1986”.
In 1987, Prinsloo was in Central America
“with Special Airborne Strike Forces with
420 men and 27 Hughes Apache helicopters,
10 F14 Tomcat jets and 50 ground personnel.”
* The June 14, 1985 raid on Gaborone, in
which 14 people died, most of them refugees
from South Africa, was the most deadly.
But what is the point. To the humble
writer, this narration is an attempt to
illustrate the environment in which Masire’s
Botswana had to fashion out a cautious but
principled foreign policy.
On the Middle East issue, for instance,
Masire’s man at the UN, Archibald Mogwe,
always voted for the Palestinians. It cannot
have been easy voting against the Americans.
But as President Mogae referred to Masire
recently, “the precocious lad from Kanye”
did a good job much of the time.
(From the pages of Mmegi 13 July 2007)
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ENTREPRISE
Kooagile of Monate Wa Temo
Her small-scale milling plant takes its name from the cornucopia that follows
a good harvest that she uses to produce award-winning sorghum meal, writes
ONONOFILE LONKOKILE
Atamelang Kooagile is a young
woman who shuns sloth
because she knows that God
frowns upon it and that hard
work will ensure that she stays
in business. Afterall, work is
worship.
After finding a niche in the sorghum
milling industry at Lesetlheng in her
native Molepolole, Kooagile knew she
was on the right track because two local
sorghum mills had recently closed down.
Kooagile revels in the fact that in the
oden days, milling was a labour of love
that women performed manually by
crushing corn (sorghum) on a grinding
stone. While this is still the case in
Botswana’s more traditional homesteads,
especially in the hinterland, milling is
done mainly by machine today where
small-scale millers exist side by side
with huge industrial plants like Bolux in
Ramotswa.
Kooagile is one such small-scale
miller who learnt from another smallscale
miller at Metsimotlhabe. She is
something of a cog in a low-intensity
war of the sexes in which women
are standing their ground. As milling
grew over time from the daily grind of
manually crushing corn between stones -
which was done primarily for household
consumption - to small-scale commercial
milling, women have held their own
against a male encroachment that they
seem to view as subversive.
They are adding on a synergy built
on a bedrock of gender divisions of
labour to defend their turf, as it were,
and taking advantage of government
empowerment programmes. Kooagile
is counted among such women – fairly
young, focused and ambitious. In 2009,
she successfully approached the Youth
Development Fund for a P100 000
soft loan and established her smallscale
sorghum milling business that
she called Monate wa Temo. A literal
translation of this name is the Joy of
Farming, a nomenclature informed by
the contentment that flows from the
cornucopia that follows a good harvest.
“I didn’t think twice,” she says of the
name and the project itself. “I knew
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it was what I wanted to do because I
could rely on support from my family.
Although it was mainly done on a
subsistence level, crop farming has been
the lifeblood of our family going back
generations. Our lives have revolved
around going to our farmland at
Ditshukudu.”
She remembers how she was a new
mother when she underwent on-site
training by Rural Industries Innovation
Centre, the good old RIIC, in how to
operate the milling machinery bought for
her with the soft loan that is 50% a grant.
The plant is made up of a dehuller, which
is used to separate bran from sorghum,
and a hammer mill for sifting.
“Those guys
from RIIC were
thorough,” says
Kooagile. “They
would take the
equipment apart
and ask me to reassemble
it.”
It is seven years later today, and
the erstwhile novice is so established
that she has paid back more than half
the loan and has a good share of the
market for schools, hospitals and prisons
in Molepolole, Takatokwane, Sojwe,
Kopong, Gabane and Tlokweng. “My
biggest client right now is Molepolole
Prison,” she notes. “They buy 400 bags
of sorghum meal per month. Each bag is
10kg.
Local households form an important
part of her customer base, especially
women for feeding their families in
a country where bogobe (sorghum
porridge) is still very much a daily staple.
A smattering of men does come through
mainly to purchase bran for cattle.
Kooagile has achieved a good deal of
success and is grateful to God because
she says it was not easy in the beginning.
She sources her inputs from BAMB,
the Botswana Agricultural Marketing
Board that supplies Monate Wa Temo
mainly with Mr Buster sorghum brand,
a medium maturity grain sorghum that
Kooagile describes as “of less chaff”
that she also intends to plant at her own
farmland at Hatsalatladi for her own use
“because it is often out of stock”.
She lists lack of her own premises
at the top of her current challenges.
Thankfully, she has a plot that she
plans to develop within in a year at
Gamodubu, and is fully aware that this
will entail relocating from Molepolole.
Kooagile bubbles with energy, leaving
me panting for breath as she shows
me around the small-scale plant. The
ambitions of this 32-year old mother of
two include having a maize processing
plant for production of another of
Botswana’s staples – phaleche (maize
meal).
At present ‘Monate’ has four
employees who were all personally
trained by Kooagile, who is also an HR
alumni of Molopolole-based Kweneng
Rural Development Association where
she graduated in 2008. She is keen on
marketing and scooped second position
at this year‘s Youth Business Expo.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 31

AGRICULTURE
moisture. Over the last few years it has broken
down and improved the humus content and
fertility of our sandveld plot.
Harvest time is always exciting! We had
some theft – sadly a common problem in our
nation. As the day progressed though, more
and more full bags of grain came off the land
and the theft didn’t seem to have dented the
harvest too much. When we came to do the
weighing, we realised we had harvested at a
yield of 6.5 tons a hectare!
Conservation Agriculture
Initiative in Zimbabwe
This is a life-giving harvest that can break Africa’s dependency
syndrome at almost zero cost to famers. The revolutionary business
model uses no costly oxen, no tractors from overseas, no diesel
from the Gulf, no ploughs from some factory, no irrigation scheme
from Israel, no hybrid seed from a commercial seed company,
no fertiliser from a manure manufacturer, and no chemicals from
some hyped organic outfit
Harvest is such a joyful time in
a rural community, especially
when the harvest is good. Three
years ago, I visited the United
States and brought back to
Zimbabwe five precious cobs of
open-pollinated maize seed from an Amish
farming family in Pennsylvania. This seed had
been in the family for generations and was a
truly remarkable gift.
With it, using very simple, God-inspired
Foundations for Farming methods that
replicate the principles of the Amish farmers,
we have been growing a small demonstration
plot at the Ameva Bible School in Chegutu
each year. Every summer we plant the seed,
nurture it and then reap it - and we keep the
best cobs to plant again.
During recent years, we have had very dry
seasons where all of the maize around the
demonstration plot has died and our maize crop
has been the only one that could be harvested
in the entire area. The reason for our success is
that we have been practicing Foundations for
Farming conservation agriculture principles
faithfully. And they work!
This year we had a very wet season. Farmers
know that growing maize on sandveld soils in
a wet season is difficult because the fertiliser
leaches out, the maize turns yellow and growth
is stunted. Most of the subsistence farmers in
the small-scale sector do not fertilise properly
and so their yields are abysmal.
We have been growing our maize with zero
basal fertiliser – so I was worried about what
would happen this season. When we set up
our Ameva demonstration plot, it was the first
time I had planted maize in sandveld soil.
During the winter, instead of buying
chemical fertiliser, we have been making
compost out of dry grass and other organic
matter from the surrounding bush. This is
applied in each carefully placed planting hole
before planting. We also have a rotation with
cowpeas which fix nitrogen in the soil for the
next year’s maize crop. Then of course there is
the mulch that is left on the surface each year to
protect the soil from erosion and conserve the
Just a hoe
So let’s get this clear: here is a farming business
model that uses no costly oxen, no tractors
from overseas, no diesel from the Gulf, no
ploughs from the factory, no irrigation schemes
from Israel, no hybrid seed from a commercial
seed company, no compound fertiliser from
a fertiliser factory and no chemicals from a
chemical manufacturer. The only thing we
did buy was a little ammonium nitrate (a highnitrogen
fertiliser) which we applied at 10
grams per plant station before tasseling; and of
course the bags for the harvested maize. The
only implement we bought three years ago was
a badza (hoe).
Business school teaches that business
is about making a profit. Business school
dictates that without profit, businesses go
down the tubes. Profit is very simple. It’s all
about whether the revenue is greater than the
costs. If the costs are bigger than the revenue,
then the business is running at a loss and
will collapse. Business school logic says that
there are only two ways to make a business
profitable: either you reduce costs - or you
increase revenues.
Foundations for Farming has taught us that
if farming costs for the poor are to be reduced
to almost zero, and revenues are to still remain
substantial, we need to:
1. Use open-pollinated seed that can be
kept from one year to the next;
2. Use homemade compost to fertilise the
crop;
3. Use mulch to retain moisture;
4. Use the no-till conservation agriculture
method, i.e. we do not plough but just
make carefully measured planting
holes with a hoe.
These four points equal efficiency. The only
real cost is the labour – much of which would
be needed in more conventional farming
anyway. On small plots, the labour is all
provided by the family. Efficiency for the poor
is where costs are brought to almost zero.
Apart from efficiency, Foundations
for Farming teaches two other principles
absolutely central to growing things well: doing
all farming operations excellently and then
doing them all on time. In countries with high
unemployment and largely poor populations,
farming with Foundation for Farming
principles makes absolute sense because
the costs are almost zero, and excellence
and timing make for good revenues. This is
especially important in Zimbabwe where there
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is over 90% unemployment, a large part of the
population is seriously poor and no actual cash
is available from the banks to buy anything
anyway!
We teach these principles as ‘EET’ – a badly
spelt version of what we need to do three times
a day: eat! If we don’t ‘EET’ we die. It’s “E”
for efficiency; “E” for excellence; and “T” for
timing. Zimbabwe doesn’t ‘EET,’ so Zimbabwe
is dying. The whole of Africa needs to learn
to ‘EET.’
Africa’s failings
Africa is not efficient. Infact, there is massive
wastage all the time across the continent.
Why don’t farmers make compost? Why
don’t they use open-pollinated seed? Why
do they burn their mulch? Why do they use
massive amounts of energy in ploughing
the soil? And in the case of Zimbabwe case
where government corruption is rampant,
where is the missing US$15 billion diamond
revenue that could have been used to rebuild
agriculture in our country?
We don’t do things excellently. Subsistence
maize crops everywhere are generally a
shambles of wandering, drunken lines and
haphazard spacing. Weeds are allowed to
grow up. Rotations are not followed. Pests
and diseases are not dealt with. But God
judges farming methods that are not excellent
very harshly because farming is the closest
profession to the laws of nature that God put
in place from the beginning.
We don’t do farming operations on time.
Our timing of planting is often a month late
– or even two months late in Zimbabwe.
Normally it’s because poor farmers don’t
have money. They are waiting for hand-outs
from the international aid community or
from President Mugabe’s ruling party, which
are normally late. The dependency syndrome
makes people poorer. Late crops will never
come to very much: the sunlight hours are
not long enough during the peak time of
photosynthesis and there is not enough rain
during the late grain-filling stage to ever
produce a decent crop.
Breaking the dependency syndrome
With ‘EET’ Foundations for Farming methods,
the poor can stand on their own two feet and
be catapulted out of poverty. We have seen
this. We don’t need to be late if all the inputs
are from the farm or plot and don’t need to
be bought from a shop or given out by an aid
organisation. On our demonstration plot we
now have a full six months to store the seed,
spread the mulch, make the compost and dig
the planting holes in precise positions before
the next planting season. By early November
we will have been ready to plant well in
advance - and we won’t have bought anything
or been donated anything!
At the Grain Marketing Board (GMB)
price of US$390 per ton, 6.5 tons a hectare
is US$2,535 per hectare. That’s a fortune in
Zimbabwe. And it’s almost all clear profit. That
yield – which we achieved with no cost - is over
10 times the current national average yield.
Africa doesn’t need the world
to feed us!
At the beginning of the rain season last year,
I spent time going around the rural areas
speaking to poor rural people. They were
desperate to plant but had no seed. Of all the
inputs that a farmer needs, seed overshadows
everything else by an immeasurable factor. I
remember reading Robinson Crusoe as a boy
and being so happy that when Crusoe was
shipwrecked on a deserted island, some barley
seed he had shaken out of a bag came up and
grew. I knew that with the seed he would be
able to survive on the island. The commodity
most critical importance to survive and live is
seed.
Last year, through the kindness of good
friends, we leased 20 hectares of ground and
developed it. We have managed to grow a very
successful open-pollinated maize seed crop
on the land. Together with Foundations for
Farming, we will be giving out that seed to the
poorest of the poor so that they may nurture
their seed like Robinson Crusoe, saving seed
for next year and the year after that. This means
that they will not be reliant on donors or the
big seed companies that grow hybrid varieties,
requiring farmers to go back year after year to
buy their seed.
Simple but revolutionary
The sense of satisfaction in planting a seed
that has been kept from a previous year, and
working to allow a crop reach its potential,
produces a great sense of joy. That’s the fourth
element to ‘EET’: it brings joy. When we
prepare to plant, having confidence in the joy
of harvest because we are doing operations
efficiently - and excellently - and on time
gives us strength to do things even better. So
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Benjamin “Ben” Freeth, the
executive director of the Mike
Campbell Foundation (MCF) in
Zimbabwe, formerly of Mount
Carmel farm in the Chegutu district
of Zimbabwe, has been working
on two conservation agriculture
we must “EET with joy.” That’s the secret to
bringing rural communities out of poverty.
It’s revolutionary, but like most revolutionary
plans, it’s also very simple.
If business schools and churches - and
those that care in Africa - taught “EET with
joy;” and businessmen and farmers practiced
“EET with joy,” our harvests each year would
feed the world!
What even happier, productive harvesting
that would be!
BACKGROUND INFO
1.The Farming for Destitute Farmworkers
Project:
The Mike Campbell Foundation’s (MCF)
Farming for Destitute Farm Workers project
was initiated by Ben Freeth, the foundation’s
executive director, in 2012.
MCF sponsors 12 people per month - both
farmworkers and the wives of farmworkers in
Zimbabwe’s Chegutu district - on Foundations
for Farming Conservation Agriculture courses.
After the training, the MCF co-ordinator
provides follow-up/mentorship support to
the often widely dispersed trainees where they
now live. In this way, they gain maximum
benefit from the courses and, with the input
packs provided by MCF ahead of the planting
season, are able to feed their families and sell
any excess harvest.
2.The Open-pollinated Seed Project:
The open-pollinated seed project was initiated
in 2016 to provide high quality open-pollinated
seed to the trainees and others so that they are
not reliant on handouts or hybrid seed from
commercial seed companies. Last month (June
2017) MCF began to reap the first harvest from
its pilot medium-scale (20ha) plot.
initiatives for destitute farm workers
and others.
•The first was set up in 2012 to
provide conservation agriculture
training to destitute farm workers in
the Chegutu district so that they can
feed themselves and their families.
The actual training is provided by
Foundations for Farming trainers
using the organisation’s highly
successful methodologies. The MCF
has a close working relationship
with Foundations for Farming
organisation and commissions the
trainers for this service.
•The second, which was set up
last year, is to provide high quality
open-pollinated seed to the trainees
and others so that they are not
reliant on hand-outs or hybrid seed
from commercial seed companies.
This month MCF is reaping the first
harvest from its pilot medium-scale
(20ha) plot near Chegutu.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 33

TOURISM
‘HOPE IN A DESERT’
Benjamin “Ben” Freeth - the white Zimbabwean farmer and human rights activist - first
rose to prominence in 2008 when the SADC Tribunal agreed with him that the land reform
processes of Robert Mugabe’s government were racist and that white farmers ought to be
compensated for their seized land and property, writes DOUGLAS TSIAKO
When the government
ignored the ruling of
the tribunal, Freeth and
his father-in-law, Mike
Campbell, took the
matter to the North Gauteng High Court
and won. The South African Supreme Court
of Appeal subsequently buttressed the ruling
of the SADC Tribunal and the finding of the
North Gauteng High Court by dismissing the
Zimbabwean government’s appeal with costs,
including costs of two counsel.
For Botswana, however, any profile of Freeth
must include the epic adventure in which he
and his sons, Joshua and Stephen, then aged
12 and 10 respectively, crossed Makgadikagadi
Salt Pans in a wooden go-kart in 2012.
The first crossing of the Makgadikgadi by
car had been made by a three-man team of
the BBC’s Top Gear motoring programme in
2007. Freeth and sons aimed to make the first
crossing of the 15 540-square kilometre salt
flats ‘by wind’ in their kite-fitted kart.
The fundraising expedition thus chose
August for the seasonal wind of the month.
However, the wind died. Freeth would
characterise this episode as an emblem of
courage and faith in a profound speech titled
“Hope in a Desert” that also reflected his
abiding love for Botswana when he addressed
the Royal Geographical Society in London on
March 7, 2013.
The speech also fits as a tribute to the
country’s founding president, Sir Seretse
Khama - a man whose influence continues
to inspire caring mortals to higher standards
decades after his passing - on the occasion of
his birthday on July 1.
However, barring its decidedly Western
perspective that colours the speaker’s views,
and that some may disagree with, Freeth’s is
a speech that is in many aspects as relevant to
present-day Botswana as it is to his adopted
country, Zimbabwe. Turn to the next page for
what Freeth had to say:
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‘When the Truth Reigns’
“It seems to many of us that hope
became a mirage in Zimbabwe when
Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) went into the Government of
National Unity and diamonds were
discovered. We knew the diamonds
would be looted and be used to
strengthen and build the war chest
of a political elite who were corrupt
to the very core. Perhaps Zimbabwe
has been a little like this picture of our
younger son Stephen - in a waterless,
lifeless, barren desert. The only thing
the ordinary person can hope to do in a
desert is just survive. There is the same
featureless horizon in every direction
and it is easy to go around in circles like
a boomerang.
I could embark on a long catalogue
of abuse but I am going to focus on
something different – even though it’s
becoming clear that Zimbabwe will burn
again this year and the horror of what
happened to 12-year old Christpower
Maisiri is only the start. Eleven days ago
he was burnt alive in his house because
he was the son of an MDC activist.
Last year our sons, Joshua (12) and
Stephen (10), designed and built a gocart
with bicycle wheels and wood, and
we decided to sail it across a desert
known as the Makgadikgadi Pans in
Botswana. This would involve about a
hundred miles of sailing across a vast
expanse of nothing.
Some of you may have seen the
Top Gear team crossing the salt pans
– the first crossing by car. You will
remember the dust in the air and the
mud just beneath the paper-thin crust.
Our crossing was to be the first crossing
using the wind.
After a while, unfortunately,
despite August being a windy month
traditionally, the wind died.
We had a “council of war” and took
into consideration that our water supply
could only be eked out for a maximum
of a week. We could sit in the middle of
the desert and just survive, hoping that
the wind would blow, or we could push
on to where we intended to go. Like the
Johnny Walker advert, we decided to
“keep on walking.”
We slept out in the open – and on
the second night we found a rock to
shelter by which we named “cricket
rock” because the brief, shrill chirping
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
of a single cricket was the only life we
heard on the whole crossing. There
wasn’t an ant, or a bird or any other
living creature all the way across.
In the morning there was still no
wind and the boys voted that we “keep
on walking.” So we did. A little later we
found a fossilizing grasshopper. There
obviously had been life here at one
time, even if there was no life now.
Then we found many dead and
fossilised flamingoes. Just beneath
the crust there was mud - and in some
place it was hard to “keep on walking.”
But we kept going all the same.
After walking for hours and hours
in intense heat, under a merciless sun,
we finally caught sight of what we had
been hoping to see for a long time, far
in the distance. Land, ho!
That is perhaps where we are now in
Zimbabwe.
But is it just a mirage hovering on
the horizon? And if it is not, what does
it signify peeping up so elusively from
under the curvature of the earth in the
wasteland that we are in figuratively, in
Zimbabwe right now?
I have thought much on this subject
for many years through many ghastly
situations where everything we had was
destroyed before our eyes, and I have
carried on thinking. Many of you will
know how we have stood for property
rights and the rule of law in Zimbabwe
and many of you will know how we, and
so many others, lost everything that we
owned - and many people, including
Mike Campbell, have lost their lives in
this desert into the bargain.
I have come to the conclusion that
the rock in this featureless plain, the
oasis in this waterless desert, the
engine that could drive us forward and
power us into a land away from where
hope has been dashed so many times,
is something utterly simple, and so
completely obvious that many seem to
have missed it. It is encapsulated in a
single word. The land at the end of the
straight-line compass-bearing in the
desert is, quite simply, “truth.”
When the truth stumbles and falls,
everything else falls apart. Dictators
have two tools at their disposal to
continue tyranny. They are “fear” and
“lies.” Only courage and truth can
counter them so that we can walk on in
the direction that is right and true.
The implementation of the law - that
we have heard about today - is all about
establishing the truth as measured
against the law. In courts we swear
to “tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth.” The law and
justice cannot operate without people
who are adherents to the truth.
Sustainable economic growth
cannot be achieved either without the
truth. In economies where dishonesty is
all-pervasive, corruption eats up honest
people’s livelihoods, and where there is
no protection of property rights, failure
To Next page
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 35

Previous Page
is always the net result.
I wish to take you back through time
to follow a thread of history involving a
man from Yorkshire. He was called John
Wycliffe – the so-called “morning star
of the reformation”. Wycliffe had taken
to heart the words that “the truth will
set you free” and he did everything
that he could to promote the truth. An
Oxford history professor wrote this of
his influence on history:
foundation of America and, within 129
years of getting Independence, had
helped to transform America into the
wealthiest, most powerful and most
innovative country on earth.
The Industrial Revolution – what
historians acknowledge as the most
important event in world economic
history – started in this country because
there was a thirst, an understanding
and a will to walk towards the truth.
Men like Robert Moffat and David
Livingstone went out from this very
room clutching the truth… and the
“To Wycliffe we owe,
more than to any
one person who can
be mentioned, our
English language, our
English Bible, and our
reformed religion…..in
Wycliffe we have the
acknowledged Father
of English prose…”
Wycliffe spent a lifetime walking
towards the truth and making it
available to others. He knew that “the
truth will set you free”. When Wycliffe
died, his body was exhumed and burnt
– but though bad men can try to burn
the truth, it does not burn. Though
they can try to destroy truth with lies, it
cannot be destroyed.
Another man, Jan Hus, who was from
Bohemia, was profoundly influenced
by Wycliffe’s teaching on the truth. He
was eventually burnt at the stake, and
Wycliffe’s papers were used to burn
him. But you cannot burn the truth.
Hus had sent missionaries of the
truth, the Moravians, throughout
Europe; and John Wesley was later
converted by them. Wesley was a
follower of the truth and, more than
any other, influenced the movement
that men like Wilberforce ran with - to
eradicate the world of slavery and other
injustices. As men and women walked
towards the truth rather than avoiding
it, the truth brought great social,
scientific and economic discoveries and
progress.
After this truth had eventually
become truly established in the hearts
and minds of many of the people
of Britain, great missionaries went
out from this land and gave their
lives to establish beacons of truth in
places where the truth had not been
established. The Puritans laid the
This is a graph of the difference, in Gross Domestic Product per capita, between
Zimbabwe and Botswana.
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truth began to be established where it
had not been before.
Jan Hus said that: “truth conquers”.
Vaclav Havel, the great Czech
playwright, dissident and first post-
Communist president of the Czech
Republic, treasured that motto, “truth
conquers,” as the country’s motto and
there is a national holiday to celebrate
it. Truth drove Havel and the others
with him to tear down the tyranny that
was closing them into the desert.
“For hundreds of years,” Havel
said, “the name of the master Jan Hus
has been inscribed in the mind of the
nation, especially for his deep love of
the truth.”
In Africa today, what we need more
than anything else in all the world
is leaders to walk towards the truth.
The truth has to become the primary
focus. We need men and women to
understand, value most profoundly,
and stand very boldly for the truth in
their personal business and public lives.
The greatest African family of
leaders I know of are the Khamas.
Khama the third – a convert of those
early missionaries who went out from
this very room - walked towards truth.
Put simply, the reason why Botswana
today is by far the least corrupt country
in Africa and one of the least corrupt in
the world, as well as being the second
wealthiest country in Africa, is a direct
result of the truth being established
in Khama’s heart. This achievement is
despite the fact that Botswana is a landlocked
country, with up to 70% covered
by the Kalahari Desert – and that it was
the third poorest country in the world at
Independence in 1966.
Khama was born very close to the salt
pans you saw in the previous pictures.
He fixed his eyes on the truth and he
walked towards it, step by step, until
the truth emerged as something that
breathed life into himself, his family and
his country.
I want to show you a picture I took
just over a month ago of a fence
with a barren area on the one side
and lush green grass on the other.
Zimbabwe’s lack of any real progress
since independence, compared with
Botswana’s, has been rather like this
picture.
Before the diamonds had even
started being mined, Botswana had the
fastest growing economy in the world.
Sir Seretse Khama was known primarily
as a man of complete integrity – a man,
who like his grandfather, prized the
truth and walked towards it.
Where truth reigns, tyranny, quite
simply, falls. Where men and women
have the courage and tenacity to walk
on towards the truth we will see the
desert start to blossom. Where the
truth is prized above all other cardinal
values, it holds families, communities,
businesses and nations together.
As the Mike Campbell Foundation,
we are trying to focus on walking on
the compass bearing towards the truth.
Last month we filed our papers in The
African Commission on Human and
People’s Rights regarding the illegal
suspension of the SADC Tribunal. This
prevents 150 million people in southern
Africa from having the right to access
justice - when the justice systems in
their own countries fail them.
Last week we were in the
Constitutional Court in South Africa
before 10 judges regarding the
registration of our SADC Tribunal
judgment. Over the weekend the
newspapers reported President
Mugabe as having said that he would
ignore what these judges said – he is
obviously expecting to lose.
In just over a week Zimbabwe
will hold a referendum on a new
draft Constitution. It is a political
compromise and a long way from the
truth, with Orwellian “all animals are
equal but some animals are more equal
than others” clauses like – and I quote
- “discrimination is unfair ... unless it is
found to be fair ...”
In this constitution, when our homes
and livelihoods are taken away from us
on agricultural land, we are expressly
barred from even going to court and
are also expressly barred from raising
the issue that we might have been
discriminated against. These clauses
take us back into the desert.
In the meantime we have been
working with ex-farm workers, people
who have suffered intense persecution,
trying to help them to walk towards the
truth.
In a country which cannot feed itself
any more, and which has relied on the
rest of the world coming in with food
aid to stop its people from starving, this
is a picture of a man who understands
truth and is running with it. Two weeks
ago he was in prison for three nights
– arrested from a church with his
pastor and a civic society member for
having held a meeting without police
clearance. However, you cannot
imprison the truth.
Khama the third’s father once said to
Khama’s brother: “We think like this”
and he drew a circle in the dust on the
ground.
“‘But Khama,” he said, “thinks like
this.” And he drew a straight line.”
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 37

HEALTH
Mothers Who Kill:
Are They Going Against Nature?
No baby or child should suffer or die at the hands of its mother
Words: Tuduetso Tebape
Ask any mother what her worst nightmare about
her child is and the thought of her child dying
is one that is likely to be at the top of her list.
Mothers want nothing more than to see their
children living long and happy lives, and a good
mother will do anything in her power to ensure
the realisation of this dream.
Sadly, not all mothers have this dream for their children. For
whatever reason, the birth of a child for some mothers is a
nightmare from which they want nothing more than to escape.
At any cost.
Cases of mothers killing their children in Botswana are
not uncommon, and heinous as this act is, more and more
such cases are receiving police attention. As a matter of fact,
Botswana Police Service estimates that between 2005 and
2010, at least 450 foetuses and babies were abandoned in the
bush, dumped by the roadside or discarded into the foulest of
places like pit latrines, in many instances resulting in the death
of the little ones and gory newspaper headlines.
The Botswana Gazette’s first edition for 2014 ran story titled:
“Newborn found dumped near filling station.”
BPS Assistant Commissioner, Christopher Mbulawa, says
where the mothers are successfully traced, there are several
offences they can be charged with for committing such crimes.
They include abortion, murder, concealment of birth and
infanticide. In the event of the latter, which Wikipedia defines
as “the intentional killing of infants,” the courts take a stern
view of perpetrators of what must surely count among the
most heartless forms of murder, the victims being at the most
precious and vulnerable stage of human life.
Says Mbulawa: “Sometimes issues of infidelity, love gone
wrong or a mother’s minority of age are at issue.” Sadly
again, the problem is not unique to Botswana. In Germany,
for example, about 25 to 30 babies are abandoned or killed
immediately after birth every year. A study by Professor Hirohito
Suzuki of Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan further describes an
intended solution to this problem that has been developed
in Germany. It is known as Babyklappe or “baby-drop,” which
allows the mother to safely leave the unwanted baby with a
facility that can provide the necessary care.
Professor Suzuki explains: “From May 1, 2014 a new law came
into force in Germany. This is the Expectant Mothers Assistance
Law — Anonymous Birth Law. The fundamental stance of this
law is to ensure that pregnant women who feel apprehensive
about revealing their identity can give birth under medical
management in a hospital, and to provide them with the
assistance that would enable them to make a choice of having
a future life with their child. To this end, a reliable and ongoing
support system that will protect the benefit of anonymity of the
pregnant woman (and) encourage women who are particularly
burdened to seek assistance in the first place is readily accessible
to all and is reachable at all times is necessary.”
Batswana women who are faced with the dilemma of an
unwanted pregnancy or baby do not have such options that
have been used as a model for Japan’s Konotori no yurikago
(Stork’s cradle). Yet it cannot be deemed difficult to go-to
places for a woman who finds herself stuck with an unwanted
baby or child. SOS Children’s Villages, for instance, are home to
about 534 children who have nowhere or no one to go to. An
additional 1 519 children are taken care of by SOS through its
Family Strengthening Programme.
The organisation’s National Director, Kitso Motshware,
explains: “SOS is an alternative to the family. Our first preference
is for the children to stay with relatives. However, if that is not
possible, we give them a home. Instead of being so cruel to
the precious gift if life, we should seek help. We encourage
mothers who are thinking they have no options to seek help
from pastors or social workers.”
Assistant Commissioner Mbulawa echoes similar sentiments:
“It is wicked of anyone to commit such heinous crimes as
infanticide. We appeal to people not to exterminate life at any
stage. They can go and seek help from various places.”
But however unforgivable such these crimes are, the reality
is that mothers who perpetrate them are in need of help.
Therefore more psychosocial and medical services should be
made available to them because no baby or child should suffer
or die at the hands of its mother.
38
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 39

TECHNOLOGY
THERO MATENGE ‘Drones’
to the Top
After amassing awards from his student days, the young ground-breaking aviator
behind Aeronautical Solutions says the next phase will be a game changer in
the production of unmanned flying machines, writes MALEBOGO RATLADI
Thero Matenge’s story is
inspiring to young IT buffs,
especially students eager to
get a bursary to further their
education in the high-tech
arena.
This is the founding director of
Aeronautical Solutions, an award winning
company that designs and manufactures
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for use
in agriculture, filming and tourism, to name
a few.
40
But Aeronautical Solutions was a mere
schoolboy fad in 2006 when Matenge, then
in Form 2, designed drones for a science
project at Kgale Junior Secondary School.
He picks up the cue: “In 2008, I returned to
my mini toy drones for a maths and science
fair. Some of the machines flew, others
didn’t, and the problem of consistency was
upsetting me.”
But he kept the hoard of the toys and their
design layouts, perhaps as a credit balance
against later engineering transgressions.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017
Much is embedded history after this,
including the likelihood that had things
gone according to the normal progression of
a young man, Matenge would today be an
aircraft maintenance engineer.
But not so for a young man for whom
innovation is the spice of life. Higher
education he did acquire, but he is forging
ahead as an IT entrepreneur now. He holds a
degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering
from the University of South Wales where
he graduated in 2015. Prior to that, he

yet Matenge speaks with reticence of a
crucial area in which it features, security
and the military, as though it were not
much of anything. He moves on to explain
that Aeronautical Solutions is in need of
funding to expand and grow its presence in
the agriculture sector by building a special
flying machine for aerial spraying of crops
for pests.
In the meantime, there is progress in
other areas, including extra-mural activities.
He started a flying club at the University of
Botswana three months ago, for instance.
“Our flying club offers a flight training
programme for fixed wing and multi-rotor
remote control aircraft and helicopters,” he
says. “We also fly model aircraft for sports,
leisure and edutainment.”
The training comprises theory and
practical sessions where trainees learn flight
principles and how to manoeuvre an RC
(flying jargon for remote control) aircraft in
the air. At 25 years of age, Matenge believes
he bustles with energy because he knows “the
true nature of hustling”. He won first prize
for manufacturing and overall best prize at
last year’s Youth Business Expo. He repeated
this feat at the 2017 Youth Business Expo
where he won first prize under the science,
technology and innovation category.
But this ground-breaking aviator is not
new to achieving. Even before his pioneering
company came into existence in 2015,
Matenge won second prize for his schoolboy
‘flying toys’ of 2006 at the youth expo of
2008. He was a student at Moeng College
then where he would emerge overall best
student when he completed his secondary
school education in 2009.
This is an ingenious young man who is
still using equipment he bought when he
was a student in the UK. He is in need of
capitalisation that he hopes to access at the
Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in
order to inaugurate a phase of Aeronautical
Solutions that Matenge says will be “a game
changer”.
had obtained a BA in Science from the
University of Botswana where he attended
from 2010 to 2012.
Upon returning home, Matenge was
disappointed that youth unemployment had
worsened even for the best of them. But he
did not allow himself to become dispirited
and chose instead to re-visit his schoolboy
dream of 11 years before.
Aeronautical Solutions, a company he
speaks passionately about, was registered last
year. “We develop technologies for livestock
and wildlife tracking and monitoring,” he
says of the drones that the company makes
in a country whose citizens go as far as
China to purchase.
“Aeronautical Solutions specialises in
making UAVs for various applications
in different sectors, including aerial
photography for filming and video
production, as well as aerial live broadcasts
of sporting events. For the wildlife and
environmental conservation sector, we
have appliances for surveying and wildlife
tracking and monitoring. We aid model
aircraft flying clubs and mount model
aviation air shows.”
This is clearly a trailblazing company,
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 41

FOOD
Sushi is a traditional Japanese dish that has travelled
across the world. So, this is to say thanks to its international
appeal and presence in kitchens all over the
world, Botswana included.
Yes, sushi, which typically uses fish and other seafood as main
ingredients, is enjoyed by many in landlocked Botswana. For
example, at Airport Junction Mall in Gaborone, the restaurant
Ocean Basket offers a choice of sushi dishes on its menu, including
salmon, tuna and prawn sushi.
What exactly is this bite sized, flavour packed dish that originates
in the Far East? It is a preparation and serving of specially
prepared vinegared rice combined with varied ingredients,
mainly seafood (often uncooked), vegetables, and occasionally
tropical fruits. Styles of sushi and their presentation vary widely,
but the key ingredient in all cases is the sushi rice, also referred
to as shari or sumeshi, according to the website allaboutsushiguide.com
Sushi can be prepared with either brown or white rice. While
it is often prepared with raw seafood, some common varieties
use cooked ingredients. Sushi is often served with pickled ginger,
wasabi and soy sauce. Daikon radish is popular as a garnish.
If you haven’t eaten Ssushi yet, Ocean Basket’s freshly prepared
spread on its sushi menu comes highly recommended to the individual
with adventurous taste buds.
42
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

Spooking the ANC’s former Chief Spook
TITLE: No Longer Whispering to Power
AUTHOR: Thandeka Gqubule
PUBLISHER: Johnathan Ball Publishers
PRICE:
PAGES: 253
BOOKSTORE:
Review: Tuduetso Tebape
The story of Thuli Madonsela is one that inspires and moves.
In the relatively short amount of time (seven years) she sat
as South Africa’s Public Protector; she used subtlety, stealth
and even elegance to achieve what most people cannot
accomplish in a lifetime.
The legacy she leaves behind cannot be overstated and will surely
be hard to match. In what seemed a script fit for a blockbuster movie
during her final days in office, Madonsela released the explosive State
of Capture report, and two years before that, Secure in Comfort, a
report on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla residence.
She is a public figure who was both celebrated and vilified for the
role she played that frequently thrust on centre stage in an increasingly
discordant South African political scene.
Yet, despite the intense media scrutiny, Madonsela remains something
of an enigma. Who is this soft-spoken woman who stood up to state
corruption? Where did she develop her views and resolve? In No Longer
Whispering to Power, journalist Thandeka Gqubule attempts to answer
these questions, and others, by exploring aspects of Madonsela’s life:
her childhood years and family, her involvement in student politics, her
time in prison, her contribution to her country’s Constitution, and her life
in law.
This insightful and informative read gives a perspective into the person
who Thuli Madonsela is, the person behind the persona, and the reader
learns why, in my opinion, Mandonsela could arguably be described as a
superwoman.
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 43

MOTORING
THE MACHINE
VW Golf GTI Clubsport S
The most authoritative Volks Wagen Golf Gran Turismo Injection ever is out and only 400
have been built, with only 47 units allocated to South Africa. All are offered in pure white with
a black roof and are heavily encumbered with 228kW of power output. They are available
only as two-door body variants with only two seats. All the 47 units allocated to SA were presold
out, thus turning the Golf GTI Clubsport S into an immediate icon and a collector’s item
The ‘wagon’ comes with a setting for the Nürburgring Nordschleife race track that can be
set using the standard Dynamic Chassis Control driving profile selector. It is available only
in manual transmission with additional components removed for weight reduction. Among
these are rear seats, insulating material, a variable luggage compartment floor, as well as
rear parcel shelf and bonnet damping components. A smaller battery is fitted to further
bring down the weight. An aluminium subframe on the front axle and aluminium brake
covers resulted in further weight savings.
The most exclusive Golf GTI has the following exterior details: semi-slicks (Michelin Sport
Cup 2) mounted on 19-inch black painted “Pretoria” alloy wheels, tinted rear windows,
“Clubsport S” type plates, the black painted roof as well as Xenon headlights with
cornering lights and LED Daytime Running Lights. The modified 17-inch brake withstands
high temperatures of the brake components and enhances stability on racing circuits. An
important factor for the car’s dynamic handling is that the unsprung mass of each wheel is
a whole kilogramme lower, thanks to the aluminium brake covers. To further improve hot
braking performances, the Clubsport S is factory-fitted with special brake pads on both the
front and rear axles.
Words: Alpha Molatlhwe
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www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

THE EXTERIOR
The aerodynamics and the associated
downforce values of the Clubsport S
are similar to the Golf GTI Clubsport
with 195kW power output that are
characterised by completely new front
bumpers for improved air supply to the
engine. The rear roof-edge spoiler was
aerodynamically perfected in the wind
tunnel for optimised aerodynamics.
This spoiler – a two-part affair - extends
upward above the roof line and merges
into the black flaps on the boot lid.
Multi-part spoilers of this type are
complex components that perfectly
fulfill the aerodynamic tasks assigned
to them and significantly increase
downforce on the rear axle. A black rear
diffuser is also included in this design.
The aerodynamics measures generate
more downforce on the rear axle than
the front axle to lift driving stability
while the fine-tuned chassis results
in a smoother ride. In the Golf GTI
Clubsport S, the understeer, so typical
of front-wheel drive cars, is practically
eliminated.
INTERIOR
Each of the 400 Clubsport S units have
its production number (001/400 to
400/400) on the ashtray cover. Both the
driver and the front seat passenger sit
in racing bucket seats that provide the
necessary lateral support. GTI insignia
featured in the standard Golf GTI
Clubsport, including the iconic golf ball
gear knob with Velour trim, a red line
in the safety belts, “Honeycomb 40”
decorative inserts for the dashboard
and door trim panels as well as
elegant inserts in “Piano Black” for the
dashboard and centre console, bring in
a bit of the Wolfsburg magic to the inside
of the Clubsport S. The grippy Velourtrimmed
sport steering wheel with a
chrome GTI emblem, red stitching and
a 12-o’clock mark has been designed
for optimum performance, particularly
on the racetrack.
HANDLING DYNAMICS
VW mechanical engineers have, in
the GTI Clubsport S, reconfigured
both axles of the Golf GTI Clubsport
S. The modular performance axle
has been given extra potential for
directional control to achieve higher
lateral accelerations without altering
the McPherson front axle for greater
understeer, as well as neutralizing the
understeer while boosting grip levels.
This also counteracts understeer on the
front axle and specially designed the
hub carriers that result in higher camber
angles.
The negative camber increases the
potential for directional control, thus
optimising the grip on the front axle.
The Clubsport S is characterised by
similarly good balance to the standard
Clubsport even at higher levels of lateral
acceleration, allowing even higher
cornering speeds. Braking performance
was also perfected to prevent the rear
from breaking away when braking
into very fast corners in a controllable
manner without losing driving stability.
Service interludes are fixed at 15 000km
and come paired with a standard
5-year/90 000km service plan, a
3-year/120 000km warranty and a 12-
year anti-corrosion warranty.
02
01
03
01 The Golf GTI Clubsport Edition 40 rides on exclusively forged, weight-optimised 18 inch ‘Quaranta’ alloy
wheels with its striking red brake callipers adorned with the ‘GTI’ logo clearly visible for all to see. Unique
GTI Clubsport lettering above the side skirt and high-gloss black door mirror housings complete the distinctive
new side profile.
02 Optional ‘Brescia’ 19 inch alloy wheels, designed exclusively for the new Golf GTI Clubsport Edition 40,
make a further dramatic statement to the exterior should you wish to choose them.
03 Optional ergonomic sports bucket seats with prominent lateral support provide optimal comfort and
stability when cornering and are stylishly finished in Alcantara, with the GTI lettering sitting proudly on
the backrest. Black honeycomb patterned backrests and seat centre section with red seaming perfectly
complement the dynamic and sporty interior.
04 The front design has a sporty new look defined by a dominant new front splitter, air curtains and Bi-Xenon
headlights with static cornering function and LED daytime running lights . The traditional red stripe extends
across the honeycomb grille into the headlights, while the red GTI badge pays homage to its iconic heritage.
04
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 45

SPORTS
AFTER THE STORM: SA’s Toyota Gazoo Pair
Dominated the Sand Dunes
The Dakar Challenge offers privateer teams free entry to the Dakar Rally. Since 2012, the
famous race has become an integral part of the Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000km Desert
Race whose latest edition that took place in Jwaneng from 24 to 26 June this year attracted
the collaboration of the Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), the SA National Off Road
Car Racing Association (SANORA) and Mascom Botswana.
Words: Alpha Molatlhwe
Sponsored by Toyota, the Desert
Race is popularly known as
Mmantshwabise and is Round
3 of the Auto Championship, as
well as Rounds 3 and 4 of the
Moto series. It offers a free entry to the
South American classic to the winners of
the Auto category of the only marathon
event on the calendar of the South African
Cross Country Series (SACCS).
After events in Mexico, India, Asia
and Morocco, the Toyota 1000km Desert
Race will be the fifth event of the calendar
with other races in Spain, Peru and
China. The inaugural Dakar Challenge
in Botswana was won by multiple South
African champions, Evan Hutchison and
Dannie Stassen in a Motorite BAT Viper.
They were followed in 2013 by Thomas
Rundle and Juan Mohr (Regent Racing
Nissan Navarra) while Gary Bertholdt
and Siegfried Rousseau, in an Atlas Copco
Ford Ranger, made a clean sweep of the
stakes in 2014. Brian Baragwanath won
46
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

the 2014 spectacular in a Quad Bike,
doing it again in 2016. Riding a Rhide
SA Yamaha, Baragwanath came third this
time around.
The 2015 version of the Dakar
Challenge was the only time the event
moved outside our borders. Jason Venter
and Vince van Allenmann of 4x4 Mega
World Toyota covered themselves in
glory, consequently gaining free entry to
the Dakar Rally on the RFS Endurance
Race in Vryburg, South Africa. The pair
went to make it a double podium finish
the following year, winning the Class T
championship in the Production Vehicle
category. Upington-based Willem du Toit
will compete in the 2018 Dakar Challenge
after winning the 2016 Amagenza Rally in
South Africa’s Northern Cape province.
But it was no surprise to see the pair of
Toyota Gazoo Racing SA entries topping
the results in the Production Vehicle
category when the Toyota Kalahari
1000km Desert Race, Round 3 of the
South African Cross Country Series ended
in the afternoon of Sunday June 25, 2017.
As the saying goes, class is permanent.
In the final classifications, former
Dakar Rally winners, Giniel de Villiers and
Dennis Murphy, toppled their champion
compatriots, Leeroy Poulter and Rob
Howie, with the two FIA class vehicles
again showing that they are in a class of
their own. The two Hiluxes stole the show
with only six points separating them at
the end of what was easily the toughest
desert race. It demanded reserve tanks
of stamina and determination from the
crews. This made a perfect weekend for
the Toyota Gazoo squad that stretched an
unbeaten three-year record that dates back
to 2015. Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie
also increased their lead in the overall
Production Vehicle championship. The
Horn brothers, Johan and Werner, riding
in a Malalane Toyota Hilux, claimed the
ultimate podium place comfortably ahead
of Lance Woolridge and Ward Huxtable
of Ford NWM Puma Lubricants Ranger,
who came fourth.
Firth position went to the new Renault
ELF Duster in the able hands of Johan
van Staden and Mike Lawrenson, with
crew having only their second counting
in another FIA entry. The pair ended up
third in the FIA class. finishing 28 seconds
ahead of Boyd Dreyer and Wooldridge’s
younger brother, Gareth, in their Ford
NWM Puma Lubricants Ranger.
With a total of 60 points up for grabs
ahead of the race, it was a thoroughly
disappointing showing for Gary Bertholdt
and Phillip Herselman (Atlas Copco VW
Amarok) and teammates Chris Visser
and Jappie Badenhost in the Atlas Copco
Toyota Hilux. They finished pointless and
suffered the additional tragedy of their
Amarok catching fire and being totally
destroyed.
Now in its 35th year, Mantshwabise
continues to grow in popularity at home
and abroad, with spectators coming from
neighboring countries and beyond. The
event became one of four only feeder races
to the Dakar Rally. With a following of over
120 000 spectators, this is little surprising
since Matshwabise is the biggest offroad
race on the African continent.
This ideal family event usually gets off
to an electrifying start starts at 0800hrs.
People literally brave the cold winter
mornings to reach the starting point and
to witness the macho drama of sheer
guts. The 2016 Toyota Kalahari Botswana
1000km Desert Race was draped in a
theme of ultimate responsibility, “Don’t
Spoil It,” an earth-friendly message aimed
at goading people to the 21st Century’s
most abiding concern of global warming.
The theme for a safety campaign
aimed at the overall preservation of
the event. As we all get absorbed in the
epic entertainment, we should always
remember to stay safe while having fun!
Two eminent personalities summed
up. “The Dakar Challenge is a brilliant
concept and has helped drivers, co-drivers
and riders who could afford it achieve the
dream of competing in the Dakar Rally,”
said Terence Marsh, SACCS’ marketing
executive.
“The Dakar Challenge is designed to be
a talent detector for promising rally raid
competitors,” said Victor Alvarez Estaben
of the Amaury Sport Organisation that
runs the Dakar Rally.
Pictures: Shaka Mabele
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 47

RE GO FA THUSO KA NAKO
E O E TLHOKANG THATA.
A o amegile mo kotsing ya koloi kana o itse mongwe o o
amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi. MVA Fund e ka go thusa fela
thata go go busetsa mo botsogong jo bo eletsegang.
Re tlhaloganya thata seemo sa motho yo o amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi, re itse fa a tlhoka thuso ya potlako
ebile e le maleba, ke moo re itlamileng go go fa thuso e e tshwanetseng mo nakong e e khutshwane.
Mongwe le mongwe yo o amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi o ka bona dithuso tse di latelang:
MEDICAL ASSISTANCE /
THUSO YA BONGAKA
E ke thuso e e fiwang ba
ba bonyeng dikgobalo
mo kotsing ya koloi.
Maikaelelo magolo a
thuso e ke go busetsa
yo o gobetseng mo
botsogong jo bo
eletsegang. Re go thusa
mo Oureng e le nngwe fa
ele thuso ya potlako kana
malatsi a le matlhano fa e
se ya potlako.
FUNERAL ASSISTANCE / THUSO YA
DITSHENYEGELO Re go thusa mo di Oureng TSA tse di PHITLHO ferang bobedi
A ke madi a a ntshiwang
go thuso mo phitlhong ya
motho yo o tlhokafetseng
mo kotsing ya koloi.
Madi a a ka se fete
P7 500. Re go thusa
mo di Oureng tse
di ferang
bobedi.
LOSS OF EARNINGS / THUSO YA
TATLHEGELO ITSHETSO
Thuso e e fiwa ba
dikgobalo tsa kotsi ya
koloi di bakileng gore ba
latlhegelwe ke pereko kana
ba seka ba tlhola ba kgona
go itshetsa. Re go thusa
mo bekeng tse thataro.
LOSS OF SUPPORT / THUSO YA
BA BA LATLHEGETSWENG
KE MOTLHOKOMEDI
Thuso e e fiwa ba ba
latlhegetsweng ke
motlhokomedi mo kotsing
ya koloi. E ka nna bana,
batsadi, monna kana mosadi,
kana mongwe le mongwe
fela yo o ka supang gore
one a tlhokomelwa ke
moswi. Re go thusa
mo kgweding tse
pedi.
48
MVA Fund Botswana
Gaborone 3188533 •
Rail Park Mall 3911180 •
Francistown 2410670 •
Maun 6861788 •
Kang 6517124/1 •
Palapye 4921022 •
Selebi-Phikwe 2600275/63
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

DAKAR: The Ultimate Race
To understand why Dakar is an enduring phenomenon is to appreciate the
difference between cross-country, off-road and rally racing.
Words: Alpha Molatlhwe
The Dakar is a cross-country
event where vehicles race
between GPS waypoints as opposed
to existing roads. In a rally
(a la WRC), the cars race along
closed roads. In an off-road race,
the competitors go on terrain not
suitable for cars but they still have a set route
to follow. But there is something of misnomer
here because although Africa’s most enduring
motor race is called The Dakar Rally, it does
not conform to the traditional definition of a
rally.
It has timed stages and liaison (open road)
sections where competitors do not race against
the clock but still have to depart at certain
predetermined times and clock in before a
given deadline to avoid time penalties. In
a rally, competitors race in similar fashion
but use multiple short stages (up to 35km
each around five or six special stages per day
over two to three days per event). In off-road
racing, an event consists of one long stage over
a day or two.
The Dakar lasts 14 days and covers
approximately 4 800 race kilometres and 10
000 km in total (combination of stages and
liaisons) with a rest day at the halfway mark. It
is officially the longest motorsport event in the
world in both distance and time.
This year the Dakar Rally takes place
mainly in Argentina,
although it starts in Paraguay and features
a loop into Bolivia. Past South American
editions have featured Chile and Peru.
TOYOTA AND DAKAR
The Dakar Rally is one of the greatest races
on earth. It all started in 1977 when the founder
of the race, Frenchman Thierry Sabine, got
lost in the Ténéré Desert while competing in
the Abidjan-Nice Rally. By the following year,
the Paris-Dakar was born, with 182 vehicles
competing in the first event. Through the
years, the Paris-Dakar grew in popularity and
became the backdrop against which many
legends were painted. While the race initially
started in Paris, the organisers later changed
the route to start at various places in Europe.
The finish also varies.
By far the most audacious version of the
rally was the 1992 Paris-Le Cap, starting in
Paris and ending in Cape Town, South Africa.
Fears of a terrorist attack saw the 2008 race,
which had been scheduled between Lisbon
and Dakar, cancelled. As a result of unrest
in North Africa, the organisers sought a new
location for the Dakar and settled on South
America as its new host.
The first South American edition took place
in 2009 and was won by South Africa’s Giniel
de Villiers and his German navigator, Dirk von
Zitzewitz. Since the move to South America,
Toyota has been a key competitor
in the world’s toughest
motorsport event.
During the
2016 race,
24 Toyota
H i l u x
vehicles took part in the Dakar - more than
any other brand. By far the majority of them
were designed and built at Toyota’s Hallspeed
facility near the famous Kyalami Racetrack in
South Africa.
For the 2016 edition of the Dakar, Toyota
was appointed as the official vehicle supplier
to the race. This meant that all the crew and
support staff of the organisation also drove
Toyota products - an agreement that continues
with Dakar 2017.
The allure of the Dakar is too strong for
many to resist. Such is this charm that winning
the legendary event elevates the crew to a stage
shared by only a handful of men and even
fewer women. Which brings up Germany’s
Jutta Kleinschmidt who became the first - and
so far the only - woman to win the Dakar in
2001.
The Dakar Rally is an amazing race,
requiring unparalleled infrastructure. The
overnight camps, known as bivouacs, range
in size from 3km2 to 5km2, depending on the
location. This mobile HQ is freshly erected
for each stage of the rally to house car wash
facilities, rest areas, showers and toilets, as
well as an impressive kitchen that serves up to
10,000 meals per day.
But in the end, all of the support staff and
the infrastructure pale into insignificance in
the face of the race itself. Twelve stages, nearly
10,000 km of driving - and in the end, just one
winner.
Hino, the truck division of Toyota, has also
made its mark in the Dakar Rally. The Truck
Class (T4), first run as a separate category
in 1980, is made up of vehicles weighing
more than 3 500 kg. Trucks participating in
the competition are subdivided into “Series
Production” trucks (T4.1) and “Modified”
trucks (T4.2), while Group T4.3 (formerly
known as T5) trucks are for rally support,
meaning they travel from bivouac to
bivouac to support vehicles in the
competition. These were introduced to
the rally in 1998. Hino again claimed
class honours in the Under-10-Litre
Truck class of the 2016 Dakar. This
marked the 25th year Hino had entered
a vehicle in the race.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 49

SPORTS
Khama speaks at
‘Re A Ba Tsaa’
• Said Botswana would host more world sporting events
• But Dinaletsana bowed out after brilliant showing
Words: Mosah Mokganedi
After putting up a brilliant
fight, the local netball side,
Dinaletsana, failed to make
it to the quarterfinals of the
ongoing Netball World Youth
Cup (NWYC) last week.
But Batswana had burst into jubilation
after Jamaica’s 44-39 win against Uganda
on Wednesday, thinking Dinaletsana had
escaped elimination.
As is turned out, winning three matches
was not enough for the local lasses as
they still banked on Uganda to beat
Jamaica to proceed to the next stage.
However, some Batswana had mistakenly
thought if Uganda lost with a margin of
less than six goals, Dinaletsana would
still make it ahead of Jamaica, hence the
celebrations after the Jamaica/Uganda
match.
Even so, like the little stars that they
are, Dinaletsana had given a shining
performance in all their matches, beating
Malaysia 76-24 in their first encounter,
Cook Island 51-41 and Jamaica 48-46.
Uganda, Jamaica and the hosts were
all locked at 6 points at the end of group
stage matches, each having lost only
once. With Uganda having automatically
qualified on goal superiority, a tie breaker
was used to decide who between
Jamaica and Botswana would accompany
Uganda.
Article 21 of the NWYC 2017 rules and
regulations states: “If more than two
teams have the same number of points at
the end of the pool rounds, a goal ratio
of the preliminary matches will decide
the placings.” Jamaica therefore beat
Botswana to the second spot on a goal
ratio of 1.35 to Botswana ‘s 1.33 after the
goals they scored were divided by the
goals they had conceded. Botswana will
therefore play in the position 9-16 play
offs.
Twenty nations descended on
Gaborone for the NWYC that came to
Africa for the first time on July 8 for a
nine-day jamboree. Indeed Botswana
made history when it won the bid to host
the 8th edition of the event in 2013.
And once it kicked off, Batswana proved
how much of a sports loving nation they
are, thronging match venues in large
numbers to support their team that did
not disappoint. It was clear early that
Africa was pinning its hopes on the
continent’s four representatives that
include hosts Botswana, South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Uganda.
The competition is being held under the
gutsy theme, “Re A Ba Tsaa,” meaning
“We Take Them Head On.”
Other nations taking part in the
international tourney are defending
champions New Zealand, as well as Sri
Lanka, Scotland, Northern Island and
Samoa in Pool A; Australia, South Africa,
Barbados, Zimbabwe and Singapore in
Pool B; Hosts Botswana are with Jamaica,
Cook Island, Malaysia and Uganda in
Pool C; while England, Fiji Island, Trinidad
and Tobago, Wales and Grenada are in
Pool D.
Officially opening the games on
Saturday, President Ian Khama declared
his government’s commitment to
supporting sports as a significant
contributor to the wellness of a nation.
“Hosting of this event is therefore not
a random event,” President Khama
said. “It is part of a strategy born out of
realisation that major sporting events,
both domestic and international, play
a critical role in the socio-economic
development of any country.”
Botswana will host the World Baseball
and Softball Congress in October and the
International Working Group on Women
and Sport Conference next year.
Said Khama: “I trust all preparations
have been made to ensure you have a
memorable stay and (that) the successful
hosting of a memorable tournament
will add value to the noble efforts of the
International Netball Federation (INF) of
developing the sport code throughout
the world.”
For her part, INF president Molly
Rhone said the INF was determined to
give young netballers the best platform
possible as they were the future of the
game. “We want to reward their energy
and enthusiasm with an opportunity to
compete on the world stage,” she said.
50
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

In Pictures
Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 51

COMMUNITY
GAME CHANGERS donate Life Skills
Handbook to Jwaneng School
BIC bore the publishing costs of the book
Words: Ononofile Lonkokile
“Nobody owes you anything,” is a
refrain that author and motivational
speaker, Saidi Mdala, emphasises in his
book, “Know What Matters.” This is a
life skills handbook for today‘s learner
that provides lessons in growing up and
knowing what matters along the way.
“At Game Changers (publishers), our
greatest passion is to give young people
maximum advantage, and ‘Know What
Matters’ was written for this purpose,”
said Mdala, who is best described as a
media and communications specialist
and life coach.
He was speaking recently at the
handing over ceremony of the book
to Morama Junior Secondary School
in Jwaneng. His first encounter with
the school was in 2015 when one of
its former teachers, Tumi Matebele,
approached him on Facebook about
speaking to her students after the hype
created in schools with motivational
speaking and the book.
“I met some of the most passionate
teachers here,” Mdala said. “Their
passion and faith in their students was
so moving that as we left the school, we
knew we would one day return. That is
why we are here today with help of our
friends, Botswana Insurance Company.”
According to him, writing the book
was “the craziest 33 days” of his entire
life because he was in the grip of
passion. After completing the book,
he had to contend with the fact that
he had no money with which to publish
it. He thus approached BIC who gladly
helped through its Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) programme’s
sustainable education intervention.
“The great relationship that exists
between Game Changers and BIC
proves that great friendships always
bear good results,” Mdala observed.
Speaking at the same ceremony,
BIC’s media liason and public relations
officer, Tsholofelo Pule, said it was their
duty to give back to the community,
especially that youth empowerment
was an essential part of BIC’s CSR
strategy. “The books donated will
enhance, reinforce and act as a point
of reference when they (the students)
need motivation and inspiration,” said
Pule.
In an interview with inBusiness on
the sidelines of the ceremony, Mdala
shared some wisdom for motivation:
“‘Every great dream begins with a
dreamer,’” he said. “‘Always remember
you have within you the strength, the
patience and the passion to reach for
the stars to change the world.’ I want to
leave you with these words by Harriet
Tubman.”
52
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

CLASS 2017
GRADUATIONS
IN PICTURES
Degree in Marketing Management
• Diploma in Real
Degree in Economics
Degree in Banking and Finance
Degree in Human Resources
Degree in
in
Entrepreneurship
Risk Management
Degree
(Honors)
in
in
Accounting
Risk Management and
• Certificate in
Faculty of Education
• Graduate Post Diploma in Educational Leadership
• Bachelor
of Education (Early Childhood Development)
• Diploma Bachelor inof Education (Social Studies)
• Bachelor of Education (General)
(English Language)
(Mathematics)
Diploma In Education (NPDE)
Education And Training
and
Management
(CVET)
SUBJECT TO VIABLE STUDENT NUMBERS.
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 53

JAZZ FESTIVAL
Featuring
KIRK WHALUM (USA)|JONATHAN BUTLER
TRINITY MPHO, AMANTLE BROWN, ELEMOTHO(NAMIBIA) LORRAINE LIONHEART,
PHILLIP MATE, JAZZ MAN, SINO’S DELUX
VENUE
Venue: Stanbic Bank Piazza | Date: Sat 26 August 2017 | Time: 3pm until Late
Ticket P500
(Normal)
Ticket P750
(Golden Circle)
VVIP P2500
(includes Free ticket
to Champagne Picnic)
CONTACTS
+267 3923381
+267 73156870
54
Tickets sold at Liqourama (Riverwalk, Molapo Crossing & Kgale Only), Webtickets
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017

Visit Your Nearest Branch/ Sales
Branch
Head Office
Private Bag 0053 | Gaborone
Tel: 395 1341 | Fax: 395 2926
Serowe Branch
Private Bag Rs 1 | Serowe
Tel/Fax: 463 0291
Rasebolai
Moshupa Branch
P O Box 244 | Moshupa
Tel: 544 9232 | Fax: 544 9205
Pitsane Branch
P O Box 71 | Pitsane
Tel: 548 6205/ 540 7292
Fax: 540 7164
Gaborone Branch
Plot 14395 | New Lobatse Rd.
G/ West Industrial | Next to Cashbuild
Gaborone
Tel: 392 2826/ 316 2039
Fax: 318 2461
Selibe-Phikwe Branch
Private Bag 15 | Selibe-Phikwe
Tel: 261 0455
Fax: 261 1810
Pandamatenga Branch
P O Box 107 | Kasane
Tel: 623 2013 | Fax: 623 2204
Francistown Branch
(Dumela Industrial)
P O Box 649 | Francistown
Tel: 241 3886/ 241 9546
Fax: 241 3672
Kanye Branch
P O Box 594 | Kanye
Tel: 540 3316| Fax: 544 0644
Mahalapye Branch
P O Box 439
Tel: 471 0249 | Fax: 472 0351
Maun Branch
P O Box 383 | Maun
Tel: 686 0392 | Fax: 680 0978
Palapye Branch
P O Box 151 | Palapye
Tel: 492 0291 | Fax: 490 0291
Hukuntsi Branch
Tel: 651 0343
Molepolole Branch
Tel: 590 6050
Tutume Branch
Tel: 247 0005
Jwaneng Branch
Tel: 588 3311
Sales Office
Mochudi Sales Office Lobatse Sales Office Goodhope Sales Office Takatokwane Sales Office
Letlhakeng Sales Office Nata Sales Office Letlhakane Sales Office Rakops Sales Office
Bobonong Sales Office Masunga Sales Office Ghanzi Sales Office Gumare Sales Office
Shakawe Sales Office Sehitwa Sales Office Kasane Sales Office Machaneng Sales Office
Francistown Sales Office Tsabong Sales Office Middlepits Sales Office Werda Sales Office
(Next to BTCL)Tel:241 3870
Bokspits Sales Office Kang Sales Office
For more information
call 395 1341 or
email: Communications@bamb.co.bw
YOUR ONE STOP
AGRICULTURAL MARKET
OF CHOICE
www.bamb.co.bw
www.inbusiness.co.bw | Issue 14 | 2017 55

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