Married to Politics: Dineo Saleshando
Sharon Mathala | Wednesday July 10, 2024 12:13
A banker by profession, Mma Saleshando is often media-shy. She tells The Monitor she was born in Gaborone but was raised in Mochudi. She was raised by her grandmother because her mother had her at a young age. She schooled in Mochudi all her life until she came to the capital to study at the University of Botswana (UB) where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting. It was during her university days that she would meet her husband, the now president of the opposition BCP and former Leader of Opposition (LoO) in Parliament Dumelang Saleshando. She remembers that Dumelang never proposed. “He still owes me a proposal,” she laughs. The couple met in 1996. “He was two years ahead of me. We were part of the Economics Society Club. He was studying Economics and Political Science. He was the founder and president of the club at the time,” Saleshando recalls. Saleshando remembers that the mandate of the club was to mentor SMMEs. She says together with Dumelang and the rest of the members they would travel across the country hosting workshops where they would teach SMMEs about basic bookkeeping, accounts, and business development. “We got close during those trips. I mean nothing happened then but because it was a small group we found ourselves liking each other's company more,” she recalls.
Dumelang would later graduate whilst Dineo had two more years to go. The couple would continue to keep in touch. It was only until a friend made her aware of Dumelang’s 'intentions' that she started noticing. “You know it started with him borrowing a calculator almost every day and returning it later in the evening. As time went by this friend of mine that I considered very close started asking me to visit him, now with a different tone things took an unexpected turn,” she further shared. The couple would later marry in 2002 and now share three children amongst them two boys and one girl. Asked if she had been aware of all of her husband’s political ambitions she said, 'He has always been involved in politics for as long as I remember but yes when we started he was not active in terms of roles within the party'. A year after their big wedding celebration, she said he then informed her he had decided to run for a council seat in Gaborone. To her surprise one day when going around town, she spotted posters of her husband announcing his candidacy for a Parliamentary seat and not a council seat as they had discussed. “I confronted him about it because it wasn't what we discussed. I felt at the time that we had just gotten married, we were just trying to build our family, and I felt a Parliamentary seat was just going to be too much for us but his mind was made up by then. And you know after being with him for many many years I eventually understood why he decided to run for Member of Parliament {seat},” Saleshando further shared. According to her, she understands why her husband is so passionate about politics because she sees the same man even at home, in the way he interacts with family and everyone else. “He wants a better life for all,” she said. “I realised that the only way was to allow him to pursue this passion because I suppose everybody has a purpose in life and for him, it’s just that. So it made it easy for me, I think, because he didn’t go into politics because it’s fashionable or he wants to try out this thing called politics, he genuinely believes in the cause and in the calling and the opportunity to impact and change people’s lives,” she added.
But being the politician's wife comes with its challenges. Asked if she has ever tried to convince him to quit politics, she responded: 'To be honest there are times when the thought has crossed my mind and I often ask myself if it is worth it.' 'The biggest issue would be on the financial front because remember being in opposition politics means finances come from one's pocket. So if he has to travel for instance to attend a political meeting across the country the funds come from the family pocket. He has to fend for his food, transport, accommodation and everything else,” she said. She further noted that the other burden comes with the emotional side of things, especially since she is married to a politician who is engaged in politics out of his own volition and not for any financial gain or exposure. “This is the reason I have fallen in love with his way of politicking and the way he approaches politics, so it gets draining, especially that sometimes as a family you get dragged into the media for something that we don't know about and what is even more painful, especially as a wife supporting him is that we don’t have an opportunity to respond. I'm a banker by profession, integrity is what I sell and therefore the extent to which some of these actions can impact one's career is draining,” Saleshando further said. According to her, as a wife to a politician, especially one who is in opposition, she has suffered a fair lot of consequences. She is always labelled. She is always referred to as Dumelang's wife. “I'm no longer my own person. I'm no longer Dineo but his wife and that on its own comes with a lot of weight. Sometimes the weight is good but other times it’s not so good. I'm politically exposed and because of that there are certain things I can't access as an ordinary citizen. That is what sometimes one just wonders why but there are a lot more reasons to carry on.”
Asked how she thinks her life could have been different if she wasn't a politician's wife, Saleshando said she has had to make a lot of sacrifices. She has had to consider his ambitions because she is supportive of his journey. She shared she had to turn down international jobs so she could be present. “My life would be different, very different, as I said I carry around this weight that I'm his wife. Even locally I have had businesses turn me away simply because I'm a politician's wife. Whereas people would assume being a politically exposed person is simply a risk profiling classification, it has now turned into something that has negative connotations,” she said. Commenting on the media spotlight and how they deal with negative publicity that sometimes borders on their personal lives, she explains, “It is not easy that I will admit but we come a long way. Back in the day it was much easier because it was the newspapers with the articles but now with the advent of social media it is not the same'. 'Before I matured, it used to bother me and it affected us a lot because why would anybody make up things about other people? I now understand that it is the nature of the game.” Whilst they have learnt to deal with publicity as a couple it's their children she is most concerned about as they too have access to social media.
She laughed and said some of the rumours written about her she got from her husband. “He would forward me the screenshot and says, 'mmaetsho a oichekile?'” Whilst there are disadvantages to being married to a politician Saleshando said there are also positives. She said she wouldn’t change a thing and has no regrets. She added that because of being a politician's wife she has met people she would otherwise not have met and has made relationships she would otherwise not have had access to. In her free time, she spends her time cooking and surfing the internet, especially on LinkedIn. She also has a mentorship session where she shares knowledge with the youth. Saleshando, who is also one of the most fashionable women in the country, said she loves coming up with new designs and bringing them to life. She enjoys being a mother and a businesswoman whilst holding her husband's hand. She enjoys local music from the likes of Women of Jazz, Kearoma Rantao, Punah Gabasiane-Molale and others
FUN FACTS
Favorite colour: BLACK
Favorite holiday destination: SEYCHELLES
What book are you reading: IKIGAI
When was the last time you cried: Can't remember
Your favorite quote: Success is not final: Failure is not Fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts! (Winston Churchill)
Go to bible verse: Do mot be overcome by evil; but overcome evil with good! Romans 12:21
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