Sporting lawyer, Sebego joins political fray
LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent
| Thursday January 24, 2008 00:00
Sebego will stand against Gaborone South MP, Akanyang Magama in the Botswana National Front (BNF) primary elections, which are scheduled for next month.
Sebego is better known for his involvement in football than as a political activist. He is the legal adviser of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) and chairman of the BFA Disciplinary Committee.
Sebego who grew up in Old Naledi, revealed in an interview that he has been a BNF activist for a long time.
He said when he was at Seepapitso Secondary School in Kanye, he joined the party's study group. Even his parents, he said, have always been BNF members. He said they were also organisers of the party in Old Naledi.
During the 1999 general elections, he was a polling agent for the late BNF president, Dr Kenneth Koma.
'At that point I was still playing football and had just started my law career. There was a general understanding that I was Koma's understudy,' he said.
However, Sebego said most of his time was taken up by sports. 'I was not active in politics'.
He only decided this year to give it a shot. Sebego describes himself as a true son of Old Naledi. 'I had always had close ties with the area and its residents. That is where I spend my time when I am not at work,' he reveals.
Sebego believes that he could make a better representative because he is aware of the challenges that Old Naledi people are facing. 'The problems that people in Old Naledi are facing are intimate to me because I grew up under those circumstances,' he said.
He said his ambition to stand for election was driven by pressure from residents of Gaborone South, especially Bontleng and Old Naledi. 'I felt I should live up to the challenge,' he said, adding that the quality of representation has gone up.
'I know the pulse rate and heartbeat of the people at Old Naledi. I believe I have the qualities that could make me contribute to the development of the Gaborone South constituency,' he said.
Sebego said he is also venturing into politics to pay back to the community that has contributed to his upbringing.
He also feels that there is need for youth representation in parliament. He said his representation in parliament would also meet the interest of sports. He noted that it is in the interest of sport to have people who are knowledgeable in that field in the legislative process.
'I am looking at the pressure groups that I belong to like the youth. I am also looking at it from the perspective of the working class. This is what has driven me to stand for political office'.
Sebego said if he was elected to become an MP, he would have to give up certain posts like being the vice chairman of the Botswana Law Society and legal advisor to the BFA. Being a parliamentarian, he said, would reduce the workload that he has been faced with.
Sebego denied reports that he was thrown into the race to topple Magama, who is not one of BNF President, Otsweletse Moupo's men. He said in 1999 when he harboured ambitions to stand for the constituency, there were no factions in the BNF.
He added that he did not contest the elections in 2004 because he was focusing on his business.