Ryder Gabathuse
19 March 2008
Francistown — Former Botswana National Front (BNF) vice president and University of Botswana (UB) academic, Dr. Kathleen Letshabo has landed a lucrative post at the New York based, UNICEF.
Letshabo, who in July 2005 at the party's congress made history when she became the party's first woman vice president said yesterday: "I am still going through recruitment formalities and I hope to join the new employer around end of April or beginning of May".
Letshabo will join the former Health Minister, Joy Phumaphi, who is in the employ of the World Bank as an assistant director general based in New York.
Letshabo will be the education evaluation specialist and she will initially be offered a two year contract.
Letshabo, currently on a three year leave of absence from the UB, which elapses in 2010, is currently working at the Washington DC-based NGO-Education Development Centre (EDC) in Nairobi, Kenya. She is a regional monitoring and evaluation specialist.
At the UB, Letshabo worked in the Centre for Academic Development. "I am not active in politics anymore given that my new UN job will render me more of a civil servant and by extension, I can't be active in party politics," she explained in an interview yesterday.
"Definitely, getting out of the BNF leadership set me on a different course as I redirected my energy to my preferred challenges as an educationist. I started looking for other opportunities," said Letshabo.
To Letshabo, politics has never been a profession and her professional route, as an educationist seems to be "promising".
Within the BNF, there is the so-called Letshabofaction which seems to be making a strong comeback after losing at a special congress last year in Molepolole. There is also talk in the BNF that the 'Letshabo faction' is strongly calling for a special congress to oust Moupo.
She added that people who are believed to belong to her faction might be like minded people. "I think like them because they are active in the party but there is nothing like the Letshabo faction," she emphasised.
"My position on what is currently happening in the BNF is known by everybody. But I don't want to talk about it as I have said enough and I would not like to be seen to be participating in any political dialogue," Letshabo said.
Her lack of participation in BNF activities does not mean "I have lost hope in the party or its leadership". She believes that any political movement like the BNF can go into crisis. She was quick to point out that the BNF has had too many experiences.
She was optimistic that the current BNF leadership would make a concerted effort to reinvigorate the main opposition party.
Having stood in for the BNF president for six weeks when Moupo was on sabbatical leave has helped her gain some experience in matters of management.
"I have learnt a lot and I cherished every moment I served. It is the experience that has helped me to grow and on that note I wish the organisation some prosperity". Quizzed as to what advice she would give the party if she were asked to, Letshabo borrowed from the former party chairman, Klaas Motshidisi who referred to the BNF constitution.
"I believe the BNF has a constitution to help the party do things in a systematic way to avert any possible crisis." she advised.
BNF Women's League publicity secretary, Keneilwe Lekoba, another UB academic, hailed Letshabo's appointment as a great achievement.
"What we can say about her appointment as BNF women is that, we are very proud of her. Her appointment to the UN post shows that she is a very able person," she declared excitedly in an interview yesterday. Lekoba described Letshabo's new post as a highly competitive one internationally, which speaks a lot about Letshabo's mould.
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