Makhandlela: A man of challenges

“He is a man not to be entrusted with a position of authority. He is a foreigner to Selebi-Phikwe,” they ranted, knowing that for him politics was an unfamiliar terrain, especially in Selebi-Phikwe.

But the former deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development shrugged off the labels and went on to trounce four competitors in the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) parliamentary primaries.  He earned himself a ticket to contest in the coming general elections. The contenders must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief at being subdued by a political novice.  They immediately went into overdrive in an attempt to buttress their misplaced conviction that a greenhorn in Makhandlela cannot beat them.