Mathiba-Madibela: A true gender legend moves on

Chinua Achebe in his 1983 book, ‘The trouble with Nigeria,’ states: “Some men wish to change men’s minds. Others wish to change the world men live in.” This encapsulated my appreciation of Magdeline Madibela’s decision to give up a secure, well-paying job in the United Nations system and take up employment at the SADC Secretariat 10 years ago.
Now she is leaving the SADC Secretariat.

For many it is a basic element of misfortune. What is not being said is whether the bravery she demonstrated working with political leaderships coupled with her intellect will survive her. Clearly this remains a battle of the soul. I write this with immense admiration for a friend, a gender activist and a seasoned development specialist who should be celebrated by all women and professionals alike, especially those who understand the murky terrain in which the gender discourse traverses, and the value of sustaining dialogue on gender and development at all costs.

In a chilling interview in Kenya on October 24, 2014, the now deceased Dr Myles Munroe said: “When you die, die like I am planning to die. Empty. It’s finished.”  Dr Munroe, his wife Ruth Ann, daughter Charisa and six other people died shortly after this interview when their airplane crashed while – we are told – attempting to land near Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama. From Dr Munroe’s words, it is clear that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. When we decide to work on something, we should do it to the best of our ability. Indeed, we must pour all our energies and capabilities into it.

To me, Magdeline Mathiba –Madibela remains one of the few dedicated young professionals in Botswana who poured everything into her job. In the midst of my crazy schedule from Lusaka to OR Tambo on the way to Hosea Kutako, a mutual friend asked me to write something about Magdeline leaving the SADC Secretariat.Although I knew that there were people who had worked closely with her at the SADC Secretariat and in the 15 countries of SADC that were probably better placed to write about Magdeline’s service to SADC and gender issues, I accepted the challenge. My association with Magdeline goes back many years. I met her when we were at the University of Botswana as students. When we graduated, I was headhunted to work for the Ministry of Health, at the AIDS STD Unit. The job was project-based and I was tasked to innovate strategies for adolescents on health-seeking behaviours.

I put my thoughts together and presented a proposal to my superiors who unanimously approved it. The next task was that I determine who could work with me to deliver a successful project. I turned to Magdeline and encouraged her to return to Gaborone and work with me. She had been posted to some remote village in Botswana, albeit with a good post. She resigned with immediate effect and came to join me with no security of employment. That was the opening gambit of many years of life as workmates. The rest is history.

We were the innovators of “The Month of Youth Against AIDS” and the “Men, Sex and AIDS projects” in Botswana which continue to be commemorated annually. We forged a very powerful and mutually enriching professional and personal bond and her versatility, open-mindedness, malleability, resilience, spontaneity and meticulousness paid off.Magdeline is indeed an extraordinary woman and person who cares deeply about gender as a democratic and human right for all. She repeatedly supported the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development during its draft form, from Angola to Tanzania. She stoutly refused to give up the promise of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security among others, which held a promise towards the elimination of all gender inequalities among the people of this region. Of course she was not alone and was flanked by dedicated Ministers and Gender activists in Africa. Nevertheless, thanks to her unalloyed commitment and hard work as part of a broader team, the Gender and Development Protocol eventually came into being in South Africa in 2008.

I recall how she sometimes felt constrained as a staff member of the Secretariat. As a friend I watched her pushing on and doing great things against incredible odds without flinching. I admired how Magdeline conducted herself as Director of Gender and how she refused to compromise her belief in gender equity and equality. Sometimes spanners were thrown into the works; skeptics tried their luck, chauvinists tried to detract her while pessimists declared that the Protocol would never get signed by two thirds of the Member States required for it to enter into force. Indeed, you can never put down a good person!

In spite of all the hard work that Magdeline and others put in, it is disheartening to note that Botswana, which hosts the SADC Secretariat, is yet to sign the Gender and Development Protocol. Nevertheless, Magdeline remains loyal with her love for her country. In my view she remains a dedicated and committed Motswana who carried herself with dignity to other nations in SADC, East Africa and beyond.

Her commitment can be evidenced by the contours and landscapes left being at the SADC secretariat, individual Members States and in the work accomplished in facilitating gender-related instruments to guide and shape the lives of women and men alike. This for many of us committed to gender and development remains a leadership to espouse. I am convinced that in the fullness of time the seeds that she planted at the SADC Secretariat in championing many other programmes will serve a revolutionary purpose for many people including those little girls who are forced into early marriages and for those women who await the day when they can enjoy their democratic rights similar to those of men. I wish Magdeline all the best in her future endeavours. Farewell my friend and teacher.
*Ms Boemo Mmandu Sekgoma is Director Programs & HIV/AIDS Policy Advisor at SADC Parliamentary Forum in Windhoek, Namibia