Lesedi: A nonconformist with a basis
Ryder Gabathuse | Wednesday March 11, 2026 08:55
Lesedi. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
The man was haden and couldn’t mince his words but spoke his mind to the chagrin of his seemingly shocked party colleagues and UDC diehards. Some even called for his party to unleash its disciplinary machinery on him. The man was unperturbed by such calls. “We are in opposition,” he reiterated his stance this week in an interview with Mmegi. “People should be honest. We had wanted to work cooperatively with the UDC, but the distribution of constituencies and wards was a spoiler.” It was the then BPF president, Mephato Reatile, who made the final decision by pulling the BPF from coalition talks with the UDC. That the Boko-led administration has included two of BPF MPs as Assistant Ministers, Lawrence Ookeditse and Baratiwa Mathoothe, does not, according to Lesedi, make the BPF a legitimate part of the UDC coalition. “There is no deal at all.” Lesedi is aware of calls to discipline him for holding such a strong position that the BPF should stop behaving like it’s part of the ruling party, “We are not.” Nothing he says will stop him from articulating a position of his constituents on national issues, as he is part of the 13th Parliament because of the people he represents. “I represent the people and not myself. In my second term now, I understand the people, and they understand me.” He stresses that he doesn’t have any contract with the UDC but with the people who watch his every move on the national Botswana Television and listen to his voice on state-owned Radio Botswana when he debates in Parliament. He insists that if the UDC were to even offer him a position in its government like his other two colleagues, “I will diametrically decline, especially without a blessing from my people”.
The MP has, however, indicated that where there is evidence that the UDC is failing the people, he will not stop speaking the truth to power. He insists he cannot look the other way when he has to hold the powerful accountable. If Serowe South legislator Leepetswe Lesedi’s names are anything to go by, the negative connotations derived from his first name, which roughly translated means ‘it has been interred’, whilst the surname means light. However, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Serowe South third legislator, since independence in 1966, says his names have no bearing on his personality. In the vernacular, Setswana, the way the names are arranged, it suggests that his light (destiny) has been concealed. “There is no reflection from any sphere of my life that my names have a direct bearing on my progression in life,” thundered the energetic Lesedi, who rose to the MP position from the 12th Parliament in 2019 and is in his second five-year term representing the people of Serowe South constituency. His career in politics started like wildfire shortly after he had resigned from the Botswana Police Service (BPS), where he had served as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) branch. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time. After his exit from the BPS in 2002, he registered for and won the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections as a candidate for the 2004 General Election, and he would later win the Manonnye ward council seat. In 2009, he lost the party primaries for the same council seat. He would later contest as an independent candidate and lost the national polls. He had contested under the name, ‘Setimamolelo’.
His main comeback was in 2014, when he wrestled the BDP ticket and ultimately the council seat. This, in a way, cemented his support and belief that the people were on his side. He was most encouraged, and he widened his dream for an upper political office. “In 2019, I contested for the BDP ticket at Manonnye ward and lost the primaries this time around but chose to contest for the parliamentary seat in Serowe South as an independent,” he reminisces about the events that turned his fortunes around. At the time, there was a lobby for a new party to be formed whose name was not yet known. Lesedi would then opt to be a BPF candidate when the time was now ripe, following the birth of a new kid on the political bloc. “It was not easy at all at the time,” Lesedi recollects, adding that he was comfortable running for the new party’s ticket with those who had lost the parliamentary primaries under the BDP.” In that race, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho was in good standing to become a candidate for the newly formed BPF, a breakaway party from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). At the end of the day, the constituency committee was roped in in search of a suitable candidate through a vote that was won by Lesedi after garnering 17 votes against Malefho’s paltry five votes. The process was tedious and a real tight affair at a time the BDP was breaking up in Serowe, caught up in the former presidents Ian Khama and Mokgweetsi Masisi’s brouhaha.
In the 2024 General Election, Lesedi further cemented his strength by winning the BPF primaries from three candidates who had availed themselves. He won five wards whilst others shared three other wards. During the 2024 General Election, there were new challengers, as the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) contested, the newly formed breakaway party from the BPF, Botswana Republican Party (BRP) tried its elusive luck and two other independents. But Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) president Duma Boko (also State President) had ordered his interested party members to leave the space (Serowe constituencies) to the BPF without a challenge from his party. The UDC diehards would oblige, albeit begrudgingly. As the interview progressed, Lesedi was nippy to expound that he left the BPS not for politics per se, “but, when I left the service, I found myself at the right place at the right time. Bulela Ditswe was running in 2003 when I had resigned from the BPS in December of 2002. I would then, and there, register for the BDP primaries”. His late father and sister are his role models as the father served in the party committee in Serowe, whilst the sister was active in the party choir. He was also without any doubt that the duo (father and sister) would also give him the requisite support once he ventures into active politics. He also admired the political activism of political veterans like Lesego Raditanka, former Cabinet members Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Tebelelo Seretse, amongst others. The person who particularly inspired the 52-year-old politician to do what he likes the most is BPF former president, Mephato Reatile. He was moved by the man’s magnetism, charm, personality, boldness and ability to sew words together, leaving his listeners spellbound. Growing up as a young man in Serowe, Lesedi’s first choice of a career was a stroppy one. He wanted to be a game ranger or serve in the national army.
He could not get an opportunity for his first choice because the advertisements for recruitment took long to be issued or were rarely seen. He would then settle for his third choice, as he enlisted in the BPS, where he served in the CID. He had also wished to serve in the now disbanded Special Branch as an intelligence officer. Lesedi has been quite active as an MP for Serowe South, encouraging youth to start their own businesses and addressing social issues in his community. The MP has also urged church leaders to address social ills, including gender-based violence and emphasised the importance of the church’s role in amplifying its voice on these matters. He has also highlighted concerns about fraud and money laundering in religious institutions, encouraging churches to comply with national laws. It must be noted that in 2019, Lesedi won the Serowe South constituency seat, but faced challenges from his party, including a disputed primary election win that led to court involvement. This never caused him to lose focus, as he has plans to remain the MP for Serowe South for more than two terms. At the moment, Lesedi and the constituents are doing very well together. He, however, admits, “I have realised that there are people who feel that I don’t represent them well” He has been seeing Facebook posts conveying dissatisfaction by some people within Serowe South. Trying to contextualise some people’s concerns, Lesedi highlighted that indeed his constituency has challenges like at Moiyabana at Mothamo Junior Secondary, which has a capacity of admitting 800 students, and today it is in a congested state with about 1300 students, which has left villagers seething with anger about this unhygienic state. Maintenance of the facility is also a huge challenge that has left some villagers believing their MP has lost a voice to effectively fight for change. “As the MP, I have been doing a lot to change the situation, but the villagers are not amused by the state of the school.”
The legislator had a breakthrough in securing a bus (65-seater) for students travelling five kilometres or more to school every day. Poor road infrastructure is a common problem in his constituency, with villagers failing to travel to their lands and cattleposts during the rainy season. He cited a broken culvert at a stream linking Serowe/Mokgware/Mogome as a problem area. He equally mentioned another route Serowe/Moiyabana road, which cannot be accessed during the rainy season because of a broken culvert. His constituents are already forming an opinion that their MP is failing them. With the rural economies of villages in the periphery of Serowe dependent on these poor roads, the situation has infuriated the poor villagers. As a politician, he admits that delivery helps people to appreciate him more. He has been challenged to explain why some of his villages do not have services that were supposed to be given a priority. He cited Sehunou village, which does not have a kgotla office, nor police officers, nor toilet facilities, whilst government employees go to work every day. The primary school is in a bad state of disrepair. “I can’t keep quiet on these things just because our party is in a relationship with the ruling UDC and I would be seen to be attacking the ruling party,” he repeats. This year, Lesedi plans to engage with the Serowe South constituents, as there are people who are always willing to bring forth ideas that can help turn around the fortunes of the constituency.
The MP has always had a plan to bring together the jobless graduates and group them according to their professions, and approach foreign missions with a cap in hand and see how far they can help in rescuing the young people from the street. He is already offering part of his 42 hectares that he has to lure young people into agriculture so that they can create jobs for themselves and others. Whilst he concedes the problem has been funding these young people, he sees light at the end of the tunnel in an economy that has been experiencing jobless growth. He concedes that being a politician, one has to devise quick means of providing long-lasting solutions to troubles bedevilling the people, rather than always crying with the people when chips are low. He knows serving the people satisfactorily has to come from the people themselves. He insists that a politician worth his salt will not wait to be told about issues of a constituency without going to the people to get first-hand information.
In conclusion, Lesedi is convinced that from the 12th Parliament (2019-2024) he raised a good number of motions and raised questions raised by the constituents. His strength is that he covers issues not only in Serowe and the surrounding villages, but he also goes deep into the remotest areas and hears the people’s concerns. In the 13th Parliament, he continues serving people tirelessly as an MP. He promises to sustain debating issues in Parliament without fear or favour as long as he speaks to the issues of the people who have mandated him.
Lesedi is a divorcee. He also love sport as in the past he has featured in high jump and volleyball because if his favourable height. Like most of the boys, he grew up playing street soccer with his peers in Serowe.
The MP has, however, indicated that where there is evidence that the UDC is failing the people, he will not stop speaking the truth to power. He insists he cannot look the other way when he has to hold the powerful accountable. If Serowe South legislator Leepetswe Lesedi’s names are anything to go by, the negative connotations derived from his first name, which roughly translated means ‘it has been interred’, whilst the surname means light. However, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Serowe South third legislator, since independence in 1966, says his names have no bearing on his personality. In the vernacular, Setswana, the way the names are arranged, it suggests that his light (destiny) has been concealed. “There is no reflection from any sphere of my life that my names have a direct bearing on my progression in life,” thundered the energetic Lesedi, who rose to the MP position from the 12th Parliament in 2019 and is in his second five-year term representing the people of Serowe South constituency. His career in politics started like wildfire shortly after he had resigned from the Botswana Police Service (BPS), where he had served as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) branch. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time. After his exit from the BPS in 2002, he registered for and won the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections as a candidate for the 2004 General Election, and he would later win the Manonnye ward council seat. In 2009, he lost the party primaries for the same council seat. He would later contest as an independent candidate and lost the national polls. He had contested under the name, ‘Setimamolelo’.
His main comeback was in 2014, when he wrestled the BDP ticket and ultimately the council seat. This, in a way, cemented his support and belief that the people were on his side. He was most encouraged, and he widened his dream for an upper political office. “In 2019, I contested for the BDP ticket at Manonnye ward and lost the primaries this time around but chose to contest for the parliamentary seat in Serowe South as an independent,” he reminisces about the events that turned his fortunes around. At the time, there was a lobby for a new party to be formed whose name was not yet known. Lesedi would then opt to be a BPF candidate when the time was now ripe, following the birth of a new kid on the political bloc. “It was not easy at all at the time,” Lesedi recollects, adding that he was comfortable running for the new party’s ticket with those who had lost the parliamentary primaries under the BDP.” In that race, Dr Kolaatamo Malefho was in good standing to become a candidate for the newly formed BPF, a breakaway party from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). At the end of the day, the constituency committee was roped in in search of a suitable candidate through a vote that was won by Lesedi after garnering 17 votes against Malefho’s paltry five votes. The process was tedious and a real tight affair at a time the BDP was breaking up in Serowe, caught up in the former presidents Ian Khama and Mokgweetsi Masisi’s brouhaha.
In the 2024 General Election, Lesedi further cemented his strength by winning the BPF primaries from three candidates who had availed themselves. He won five wards whilst others shared three other wards. During the 2024 General Election, there were new challengers, as the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) contested, the newly formed breakaway party from the BPF, Botswana Republican Party (BRP) tried its elusive luck and two other independents. But Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) president Duma Boko (also State President) had ordered his interested party members to leave the space (Serowe constituencies) to the BPF without a challenge from his party. The UDC diehards would oblige, albeit begrudgingly. As the interview progressed, Lesedi was nippy to expound that he left the BPS not for politics per se, “but, when I left the service, I found myself at the right place at the right time. Bulela Ditswe was running in 2003 when I had resigned from the BPS in December of 2002. I would then, and there, register for the BDP primaries”. His late father and sister are his role models as the father served in the party committee in Serowe, whilst the sister was active in the party choir. He was also without any doubt that the duo (father and sister) would also give him the requisite support once he ventures into active politics. He also admired the political activism of political veterans like Lesego Raditanka, former Cabinet members Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Tebelelo Seretse, amongst others. The person who particularly inspired the 52-year-old politician to do what he likes the most is BPF former president, Mephato Reatile. He was moved by the man’s magnetism, charm, personality, boldness and ability to sew words together, leaving his listeners spellbound. Growing up as a young man in Serowe, Lesedi’s first choice of a career was a stroppy one. He wanted to be a game ranger or serve in the national army.
He could not get an opportunity for his first choice because the advertisements for recruitment took long to be issued or were rarely seen. He would then settle for his third choice, as he enlisted in the BPS, where he served in the CID. He had also wished to serve in the now disbanded Special Branch as an intelligence officer. Lesedi has been quite active as an MP for Serowe South, encouraging youth to start their own businesses and addressing social issues in his community. The MP has also urged church leaders to address social ills, including gender-based violence and emphasised the importance of the church’s role in amplifying its voice on these matters. He has also highlighted concerns about fraud and money laundering in religious institutions, encouraging churches to comply with national laws. It must be noted that in 2019, Lesedi won the Serowe South constituency seat, but faced challenges from his party, including a disputed primary election win that led to court involvement. This never caused him to lose focus, as he has plans to remain the MP for Serowe South for more than two terms. At the moment, Lesedi and the constituents are doing very well together. He, however, admits, “I have realised that there are people who feel that I don’t represent them well” He has been seeing Facebook posts conveying dissatisfaction by some people within Serowe South. Trying to contextualise some people’s concerns, Lesedi highlighted that indeed his constituency has challenges like at Moiyabana at Mothamo Junior Secondary, which has a capacity of admitting 800 students, and today it is in a congested state with about 1300 students, which has left villagers seething with anger about this unhygienic state. Maintenance of the facility is also a huge challenge that has left some villagers believing their MP has lost a voice to effectively fight for change. “As the MP, I have been doing a lot to change the situation, but the villagers are not amused by the state of the school.”
The legislator had a breakthrough in securing a bus (65-seater) for students travelling five kilometres or more to school every day. Poor road infrastructure is a common problem in his constituency, with villagers failing to travel to their lands and cattleposts during the rainy season. He cited a broken culvert at a stream linking Serowe/Mokgware/Mogome as a problem area. He equally mentioned another route Serowe/Moiyabana road, which cannot be accessed during the rainy season because of a broken culvert. His constituents are already forming an opinion that their MP is failing them. With the rural economies of villages in the periphery of Serowe dependent on these poor roads, the situation has infuriated the poor villagers. As a politician, he admits that delivery helps people to appreciate him more. He has been challenged to explain why some of his villages do not have services that were supposed to be given a priority. He cited Sehunou village, which does not have a kgotla office, nor police officers, nor toilet facilities, whilst government employees go to work every day. The primary school is in a bad state of disrepair. “I can’t keep quiet on these things just because our party is in a relationship with the ruling UDC and I would be seen to be attacking the ruling party,” he repeats. This year, Lesedi plans to engage with the Serowe South constituents, as there are people who are always willing to bring forth ideas that can help turn around the fortunes of the constituency.
The MP has always had a plan to bring together the jobless graduates and group them according to their professions, and approach foreign missions with a cap in hand and see how far they can help in rescuing the young people from the street. He is already offering part of his 42 hectares that he has to lure young people into agriculture so that they can create jobs for themselves and others. Whilst he concedes the problem has been funding these young people, he sees light at the end of the tunnel in an economy that has been experiencing jobless growth. He concedes that being a politician, one has to devise quick means of providing long-lasting solutions to troubles bedevilling the people, rather than always crying with the people when chips are low. He knows serving the people satisfactorily has to come from the people themselves. He insists that a politician worth his salt will not wait to be told about issues of a constituency without going to the people to get first-hand information.
In conclusion, Lesedi is convinced that from the 12th Parliament (2019-2024) he raised a good number of motions and raised questions raised by the constituents. His strength is that he covers issues not only in Serowe and the surrounding villages, but he also goes deep into the remotest areas and hears the people’s concerns. In the 13th Parliament, he continues serving people tirelessly as an MP. He promises to sustain debating issues in Parliament without fear or favour as long as he speaks to the issues of the people who have mandated him.
Lesedi is a divorcee. He also love sport as in the past he has featured in high jump and volleyball because if his favourable height. Like most of the boys, he grew up playing street soccer with his peers in Serowe.