Serame’s meteoric rise

Ryder Gabathuse | Wednesday October 2, 2024 09:14

This Setswana proverb resonates very well with the words of former Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Solomon Sekwakwa, who from an early stage was able to foretell that Serame, Botswana’s Minister of Finance, was destined for greater things in life.

Serame was elevated in a 2021 Cabinet reshuffle to preside over the national purse and its development trajectory listed as the 10th minister, breaking male domination of the position. She rose after Dr Thapelo Matsheka was dropped from Cabinet after a fall out with the principal, President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

In soccer, traditionally, the number 10 shirt is given the team’s playmaker or star attacking midfielder, which leaves Serame as the cynosure of all eyes, as number 10 in the list and a woman for that matter. Like in soccer, she will not take her position lightly as all indications are that she has really earned the 10th position.

In Serame, Sekwakwa has always known that he was raising a PS material, “because of Serame’s thorough understanding of economics and her passion. Serame’s progress was never based on the gender card, but it was purely on the basis of her shrewdness as an economist.” In fact, Serame’s meteoric rise to the top was not by any fluke as she has always applied her very best.”

Sekwakwa, who was also a permanent secretary at the Finance Ministry, could see that his mentee possessed the requisite qualities of a PS in her area of profession. Little did he know that Serame would rise and assume a powerful Cabinet position as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development head.

By profession, Sekwakwa is also a respected economist. When he was a director at the Ministry of Finance, he was able to spot Serame’s astuteness and prowess as a rising economist and nurtured it. He supervised and mentored the young Serame and a team of other economists according to their strengths. In essence, the mentor and the mentee interacted a lot professionally. Serame’s thick resume shows that she started off from the lowest rung and rose to become a PS as Sekwakwa had foretold. She started off her career in the public service as an assistant economist in 1994 and rose through the ranks to become a director, macroeconomic policy, in 2009. As if that was not enough, Serame rose to become a deputy permanent secretary, economic diversification drive.

It was her rise to the Permanent Secretary position in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) that she became even more visible. Her popularity rose even more after the 2019 General Election when Serame was appointed the MITI, especially during the lockdowns that characterised the early days of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that saw businesses subjected to openings and closures in an endeavour to control the virus.

She became the cynosure of all eyes as she would close and open liquor outlets in particular as they were at the mercy of the virus. It was during this era that Serame was called with all sorts of sobriquets such as ‘Pegzozo’ and many others in an endeavour to soften her up to open the liquor outlets.

She knew how to deal with her hard-to-please stakeholders who will take their time to address her with those monikers that never offended her at all. The social media was often abuzz with ‘thirsty’ people pleading with her to open up the liquor outlets.

“She was one of those that we could see from the early days of their profession that they had potential,” reminisced Sekwakwa, who conceded that in 2017 Serame was sent to the World Bank for about seven months to familiarise herself with its operations as appreciation for her commitment to her work.

“Like I am saying, she was very intelligent and had a sense of independence and forthrightness. If you are a good manager, you look at those elements,” he noted and added: “Serame was open and shared feedback with others and in short, she has always been a team player.”

Sekwakwa will further describe Serame as a simple person and was quick to add: “When proposing policies, she always had in her mind even the ordinary people. She has always believed that a policy is as good as implementing it, as without implementation, it has no meaning.”

Interestingly, as a young girl playing in the dusty streets of Phitshane-Molopo, ‘Pegzozo‘ as the 54-year-old Minister is popularly called, never considered economics as her first choice career.

“Growing up I believed I was headed for a career in the science field, but I also knew that I feared reading for medicine. I feared the sight of blood, wounds, cuts and others,” explained the mother of three in an earlier interview.

What was important to her though was getting an education and a good job that will enable her to help her family improve its livelihood. Luckily, when she went to apply for a career at the University of Botswana (UB), she had proper career guidance and counselling, which led her to Economics and her next choice was Bachelor of Commerce Degree.

In a previous interview, Serame was not ready to disclose whether come 2024 she will contest for a parliamentary seat, safe to say: “As I have explained in a number of interviews already, my focus is on the current responsibility. I have been given a ministerial portfolio. In time, I will make the necessary considerations and make a decision at the right time and announce through the right channels if need be.”

True to her promise, ‘Pegzozo’ made a decision to run for parliamentary elections under the ruling BDP ticket and after losing primary elections at Goodhope-Mmathethe to another colleague, Health Minister, Edwin Dikoloti, circumstances favoured her as she was given the party ticket on a silver platter without a rerun. She has proven to be a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) diehard as often reflected even by her attire of red, black and white. Her political fanaticism even reflects that she has purely been baptised in the name of the BDP.

Without a rerun, the party has denied Serame’s followers and her nemesis to have an idea of what the first female Finance Minister in the country is made of. Expectation was that the party would give Serame a chance to prove her mettle in a contested position (internally), which will provide a precursor (in case she won) of what to expect in the General Election come the October 30, 2024 polls.

There is fear that the BDP Specially Elected MP might have it rough as she traverses the wide constituency, as there are many questions that she has to deal with relating to what happened to Dikoloti’s victory in the primaries. She did not force the party CC to come up with any decision, save to say she had protested Dikoloti’s victory of a margin of 1, 700 votes. The party CC (in which she sits) would later nullify Dikoloti’s victory alleging massive voter trafficking.

The good news is that President Masisi seems to be having good plans to either retain Serame as the Finance Minister or even elevate her as the heir apparent (as Masisi aims for his second and final term). On many occasions, the President has unequivocally demonstrated that he values Serame as a rising politician to the extent that rumour has it that Masisi would not mind to have Serame as the next Vice President. There is every reason for the BDP CC to have come up with a decision to choose the Finance Minister ahead of her Health ministry colleague. The party head honchos even took an unpopular decision and threw all caution to the wind by endorsing Serame without a hearing to the chagrin of the now charged Goodhope-Mmathethe constituents who rally behind Dikoloti. It is, however, apparent the party is determined to go all out to ensure Serame wins this one even with dissenters’ hullaballoo.

Besides her ministerial portfolio, she is involved in a number of community projects like Women’s Shelter, working with teachers and other stakeholders to assist in the education sector (adopted Phitshane Primary School). She is also assisting in a Disability Group community project in Mabule. The minister is also working with a number of groups on youth projects (mainly character building and empowerment initiatives - some at inception stage.) Her interest is on youth character development and empowerment.

Former MITI minister, Vincent Seretse worked with her when she was his deputy PS and later a substantive PS.

“She was my PS - a very strong character, and well versed in government administration and she played the role very well. She displayed maturity, experience and sharpness,” remembers the former minister who indicated that Serame actually chose to do things how they should be done without bending rules.

“You know when you talk about people...for the time I worked with her, I will recommend her for any job without any fear of disappointment, notwithstanding that people sometimes can disappoint you,” emphasised Seretse.

His impression about Serame is that she was consistently detailed and analytical and shrewd in the execution of her role.

“When you are a minister, sometimes we mistake and misrepresent that we have so much power. But, the job of a minister is simplified by the duties of a PS as an administer,” he conceded and added: “So, she did just that with so much thought and detail.”

Former Permanent Secretary to the President and now SADC Executive Secretary, Elias Magosi, has described Serame whom they interacted when he was the permanent secretary at both Transport and Agriculture, as a shining star.

In summation, Magosi said Serame excelled in her service as PS at the MITI where she was meticulous, hardworking and a team player in the execution of her functions.

“Those are the qualities that she possessed and to some of us, her rise to the top is not surprising,” concluded Magosi in a telephone interview from Brussels then.

Serame also wears another big cap as the chairperson of the BDP Women’s Wing, a powerful party organ of the party, which is amongst others expected to stand by her side even in the impending General Election. This has become her strongest support base. By virtue of being the Women’s Wing chairperson, she sits in the BDP CC.

This is an expanded version of a story that was first published in February 18, 2022.