Col Phetogo: what a mighty good man!

Richard Moleofe | Friday December 18, 2015 17:02

While in that organisation, I had my share of ups and downs. But there was one officer gentleman who illuminated my path while there.

Colonel Robert Phetogo retired from BDF at the end of October this year and I thought the best present I could ever give him is to write a fitting tribute to this giant of a man. Not giant by the description of his body but he is a man who holds that giant personality stature.

 I do not believe in writing tributes for the dead except under certain circumstances and I am rightly placed to speak in loads and tonnes about this colossal figure of a man. By the way, the man stands about six feet tall and wears a rather frail body with little muscle for a man you could call a soldier. Well groomed in all aspects , he maintains a straight face which often beams with a smile. I can assure you that he is a man who never bursts into laughter but rather when he is amused he would place his mirth under much control and quarantine. And for the four years I shared an office with, I had never seen him bring a melancholic face to the corridors of BDF Headquarters. He would never at any one point bring his own domestic issues to the office.

Born in Serowe in 1960, he is married and has two adult children in the names of Rorisang and Roy. Like any parent, I have realised that he has a softer spot for Rorisang who like her father is a workaholic. This is a man who does not believe in glamour and pomp. He has a modest wife and a modest home in Phase Two, Gaborone. Of course, Colonel Phetogo has also invested modestly in the property business. He has peacefully and quietly gone into retirement with that certainty on his income levels.

What is of most interest to military readers, however, is the colonel’s career path. He joined the military in 1986 after completing his tertiary education in the medical sciences. By the way, at that time I had also tried my luck in joining BDF as I had completed my secondary education the previous year. It was about 500 of us and yet BDF only had 36 vacancies for technical staff only. Those who made the cut to the rank of Officer Cadet in those years were viewed with much envy. I didn’t make the cut then, but I kept trying until I had also acquired some tertiary education.

Serving in the Medical Services, he did duty in Gaborone, Francistown and Thebephatshwa Air Base. He came back to Sir Seretse Khama Barracks where he finally hang-up his boots. He has served as Officer Commanding and as well as Commanding Officer. That sounds pretty the same thing but it is not.

I came to work with Colonel Phetogo when he was AIDS Coordinator at BDF HQ. This became my last posting until my retirement four years later. I will not regret any moment I have spent under the leadership and tutelage of this man.

At the time there was an acute shortage of office accommodation at BDF HQ. Phetogo became the only officer of the rank of Colonel to share a small office with two Commissioned Officers and two None Commissioned Officers. His focus was to get work done and office luxury was not his priority. He never came home to call our small office “ofisi yame” (my office) while it was common language with the rest of his colleagues.

Above all, Colonel Phetogo was and is a workaholic, end of the story. In a country where work ethics are undesirable, he is that rare breed of person who, undisputably, is a human resource investment for this nation. When I came to work in his office, my attitude and outlook completely changed. What I saw in him was only equal to the way the US Army soldiers conducted themselves; that is what I learned for the few months I trained in America.

Staff Sergeant Cedric Thekoetsile whom we shared an office with has labelled Colonel Phetogo “a university of learning” when it comes to imparting work ethics on his juniors.

Our office received funding from the US Embassy through the Office of Defence Cooperation (ODC) under the US Department of Defence and the funds came in US Dollars. The Colonel was highly protective of the funding and he made sure that every cent was spent wisely in the campaign against HIV and AIDS.

Part of his work was to write speeches for the Generals when they had to speak in public. He tasked me with the job of writing for Major General Tlhokwane, but I failed. Even with my writing skills, I still fell far too short of his standards. He was a man that paid attention to detail and often meticulous in whatever he laid his hands on.

It is a pity that BDF has let go of such a man without rewarding him with a rank of General. If I was Commander, I would consider bringing him on board on contract. There is still a great deal that the young officers can learn from this man. 

I could dedicate a song to him, I would only chose to use figures of speech because there are not sufficient words to describe him in wholeness. For a song that would come closest to fitting in this tribute, I would dedicate “What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man?” Sir, you deserve a “General Salute.”