Legislative power, perks: Matsheka leaves all
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday October 23, 2023 06:00
Matsheka was dramatically arrested on August 2, 2022, by the DIS officers, its support staff, and members of the Botswana Police Service. Although he was never officially charged, Matsheka was arrested in connection with the disappearance and murder of an eight-year-old boy Tlotso Karema in Lobatse.
The incident literally ended Matsheka’s political career even before he himself could call it quits.
For those in politics who view their job as their identity, quitting is unthinkable but Matsheka says he was optimistic at first but later decided not to contest for elections as per the advice of his wife.
From a Finance Minister to a backbencher and chief suspect in the murder case of a child from his own constituency, Matsheka is surely a man who feels hard done by.
Although the history of politics is littered with people who are still holding on to where they are not wanted, Matsheka did not want to stick around for that.
The Lobatse MP is currently demanding damages from the government for humiliation and reputational damage he claims to have suffered at the hands of the DIS.
“I have been trying to convince my wife; I have been trying but she has refused. She said to me if there is one thing I did to her which hurt her was when she advised me not to participate in politics,” Matsheka said this week.
The MP also said after the DIS arrest ordeal, his wife said to him: “See what they have done to you. She has refused that I sign the form to contest for elections. Who else can I listen to if not to the one who rescued me from prison? They asked her if I was indeed her husband, after 35 years of marriage. The DIS lawyers asked her to provide proof that she is indeed my wife. I will not stand for elections. I won’t ask for your vote but I promise that I will continue being in the BDP. I will remain a BDP member even after my term. I promise the BDP branch my support because ultimately it is about developing Lobatse. And we should work hard for that”.
Matsheka before politics
Even though the MP says he will remain a devoted member of the party, Matsheka will perhaps also show that there is a life on the other side of politics. Speaking of the other side of politics, little was known about Matsheka in the political circles of Lobatse until the 2018 BDP primary elections when he managed to beat the then incumbent MP and former Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Sadique Kebonang. Before running for political office, Matsheka was the Managing Director at Fiducia Services (Pty) Ltd from 2017-2019. Before that, he had a stint at AON Botswana from 2010-2016 as the managing director.
He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) from 2003-2010. He was also UB’s staff development fellow from 1983 until he became lecturer and eventually senior Lecturer from 2000-2003. Matsheka has a Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Demography) from the University of Botswana attained in June 1988. In October 1990 he accomplished Masters of Philosophy (Monetary Economics) from the University of Glasgow. He later acquired Doctor of Philosophy (Economics) from the University of Kent in October 1997.
Matsheka’s political career
When he beat Kebonang in Bulela Ditswe back in 2018, Matsheka started on high note by gaining 1, 376 votes against Kebonang’s 1, 073. This was just a start but the biggest test for Matsheka the following year at the 2019 General Election where he had to defend the Lobatse constituency for the BDP. Kebonang had snatched the constituency from long-serving Nehemiah Mudubule of the UDC in 2014 in what was a David vs Goliath battle.
Modubule had been the area MP since 1999 after unseating then incumbent Otlaadisa Koosaletse who had defected from the BNF to form the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in 1998.
Lobatse has never been easy and it is the same constituency which made history by voting Modubule as the first ever independent candidate to win an MP seat in the 2009 general election. For a long time, Lobatse had been in the hands of the opposition and it turned out Matsheka’s big test in 2019 was not a big test after all as he swiftly retained the constituency for the BDP. Matsheka won with 6,705 votes, Orapeleng Kakoma of the UDC got 2,238, Shaffi Pandor of Alliance for Progressive (AP) got 238 while Modubule of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) got only 166 votes. Independent candidates Kamal Jacobs, Kader Badat, Patrick Kebailele got 1,413, 40 and 40 votes respectively. Matsheka thrashed his opponents convincingly and his profile as Masisi looked at the potential candidates for his Cabinet was right up there as one of the most qualified MPs to run a senior ministry. Speaking of senior ministries, Masisi chose Matsheka as his Minister of Finance and the latter became the first financial economist to become finance minister.
Matsheka was Botswana’s sixth finance minister after Sir Ketumile Masire, Peter Mmusi, Festus Mogae, Baledzi Gaolathe and Kenneth Matambo. Until 1998 when former president Ian Khama broke the trend, the position of Vice President also doubled as finance minister. Gaolathe became the first finance minister who was not the VP. Matsheka delivered his first budget speech in 2020 much to the impression of many and finally people felt that the Finance Minister position has finally got its swag back since the days of Mogae and Gaolathe.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020 and Matsheka’s ministry became the busiest as the country’s coffers dried up. The country was under the State of Emergency (SoE) and COVID-19 had a huge fiscal impact on the economy, resulting in large budget deficits.
An audit report tabled by the Auditor General before Parliament in 2021 revealed that millions of pula were wasted, unaccounted for or misused in the first eight months after the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. This happened during the time when Matsheka was at the helm of the Finance ministry and it is said that some of the events which occurred at the time eventually led to his fallout with Masisi. It was reported that Matsheka had not been in the good books of the BDP leadership and his place in the backbench became an eventuality. Being dropped from Cabinet and to finally being pushed out was said to be the plan of the BDP.
Untenable positionLobatse constituency is one of the chancy areas and it might take voters years to forget about the Karema matter more especially after the riots, which forced the security agents to take the matter more seriously. Even though he was never formally charged, the controversy surrounding his arrest and alleged links to the murder of Karema had somewhat become untenable no wonder Matsheka was willing to let it all go. The issue has tainted Matsheka and he did not just reach the quitting decision lightly but he knew that it has already damaged his electoral prospects.
Whether in a few years from now Matsheka will look at this decision with wistfulness but this is a decision he had to take because his arrest will always long cast a shadow over him, his family and political career. Although everyone is ultimately replaceable, being relegated from presiding over the country’s coffers to being arrested in full glare of the public and media damaged his image.
The one-term Member of Parliament (MP) leaves behind a life of being treated like a king and all the things that make it appealing to hang on to the MP seat. When Parliament dissolves next year, Matsheka will no longer put on a suit as a legislator because he has finally called time on his political career.