Malefho Unceremoniously Fired
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday November 9, 2021 06:00
Malefho, who was working as a medical doctor at Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital, was supposed to exit his employment contract on March 31, 2022. “It is true. I was called by the human resource officer on Thursday to come and get my dismissal letter. According to the officer, COVID-19 is now over and therefore they do not need more medical doctors anymore. "To my shock, they could at least have informed me about the intention because I was working the night shift on Wednesday.
At the moment I will be concentrating on my life because I was not expecting this kind of sacking,” Malefho told The Monitor on Friday. Still, on the matter, some sources say that the decision to fire Malefho was politically motivated since there was an instruction to do so even though the hospital management was divided on the matter. “The hospital is still receiving COVID-19 patients and we are about to experience another wave. Whoever is advising the hospital management or the Ministry of Health and Wellness to sack workers claiming that COVID-19 is over, is ill-advising them. We are going to need doctors and his contract was about to end, therefore, the hospital could have waited,” the source said.
Malefho joined the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2018 and challenged Tebelelo Seretse at the party parliamentary primary elections for the Serowe South constituency. One of the reasons why Malefho left public service early was to have enough time to contest for the BDP primary elections, which he lost. Seretse has since been appointed new Chancellor of the University of Botswana after the recent passing on of Linah Mohohlo. She was appointed by President Mokgweetsi Masisi effective from September 1, 2021, until August 31, 2026. Efforts to get a comment from Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital were not successful.