Rakhudu, a man of many talents
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday May 23, 2014 15:31
Having served in other political capacities in the Botswana Democratic Party government, Rakhudu is currently the assistant minister in the troubled Ministry of Education and Skills Development.
While there are obvious threats from Motsei Rapelana of the Botswana Congress Party and Haskins Nkaigwa of the Umbrella for Democratic Change, Rakhudu is confident that he will make it for the third time. His confidence is borne from his good relationship with his constituents.
His love for music is also a plus since the youth are in love with music and arts. There are big mountains to climb though.
“There are challenges of unemployment rate in my constituency like in any other area. I always encourage people to take advantage of government programmes which cater for old and young,” Rakhudu says.
Rakhudu says he went into active politics in 1999 and thereafter was nominated councillor in the Gaborone City Council, after losing the constituency to Michael Mzwinila of the Botswana National Front (BNF).
In the 2004 general elections, Rakhudu returned to contest for the parliamentary seat and triumphed. He became the very first MP for the BDP in the area in 20 years, then beating the BNF’s Patrick Kgoadi and Moncho Moncho of the BCP. He got appointed to Cabinet as assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning in April of 2008, a position he held until 2009.
In the same year 2009, he was deployed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, again as an assistant Minister. He also had a stint at the Ministry of Education and Skills Development as assistant Minister, and after a Cabinet reshuffle in October 2012, he was back at the Trade Ministry as the junior minister. In 2009, he narrowly beat BCP’s Rapelana and Lemohang Ntime of the BNF.
Before his political calling, he was a secondary school teacher. He has worked at Kgosi Kgari Sechele II Secondary School in Molepolole, from May 1979 to January 1983, where he taught English and Geography.
He later joined Longman Botswana, a British multinational specialising in the development and publishing of educational textbooks and other support educational materials for schools at all levels, right up to tertiary. He climbed the ranks to become the general manager and chief executive officer in Botswana where he had helped develop a formidable team of highly capable young Batswana.
Throughout, Rakhudu maintained his interest in the arts, particularly music. He plays guitar, and is a student of the Alto Saxophone. Like most indigenous musicians, he plays by the eye and the ear.
He says nowadays he plays little, mostly for leisure, and plays a lot of Tswana guitar style to back his new found love for the traditional guitar accompanied music. “I pledge to contribute positively to developmental work at the Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU), for the benefit of the membership and the industry at large,” says the patron of BOMU.
Among others, Keletso Rakhudu aka ‘Kaizur’ played lead guitar with Ofentse ‘Joe Bole’ Moagi, Nametso ‘Kaizer’ Koma (drums), Banjo Mosele (rhythm guitar), Lekofi Sejeso (drums) and Billy ‘The bomb’ (rhythm guitar).
Rakhudu is a dedicated husband to Mavis and father to Lesedi, Thuso and Bakang, a proud supporter of Notwane football club popularly known as Toronto Blizzards and Sechaba to its fans. Rakhudu is again the founder director of Funeral Services Group (FSG) Pty Ltd with significant but minority shareholding and also a shareholder at Serokolwane farms and Serokolwane Lawns. He is a dedicated farmer who rears cattle, small stock, poultry and guinea fowls and crops.