How Dipheko Motube relaxes

Life is hectic for Botswana Police Services (BPS) deputy spokesperson Senior Superintendent Dipheko Hansford Motube (51). However, he religiously makes time to share a kiss with his wife and help his four children with their schoolwork.

His parents come from Gabane but they relocated to Kopong for farming purposes when he was young. His mother is still alive while his father passed away in 2003. He has five siblings. He married Boitumelo in 1995 and is proud to brag about her charm. “She gave me beautiful children with her big eyes to compliment my narrow eyes,” he says, adding that his wife is also a hard worker. She is the Executive Secretary to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Civil Aviation Authority.
Motube comes from a humble background and thanks his brother William for being where he is today. After completing standard seven, his mother wanted him to go and work at the Gauteng mines because they did not have money for him to go into Cambridge. 

William, who also taught him how to drive, managed to raise money for him to continue schooling. “It was because of his vision that I saw a world of possibilities,” he says.  His experience as a fresh student at Molefhi Junior School marked a new life. It was his first time to hear Kalanga language. He ate carcass thinking it was beef during their trip to the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) headquarters. But he remembers an embarrassment he suffered during a school assembly one morning.  School head Hope Philipps was very angry with male students who had developed a notorious habit of beating girls. He warned them one morning that ‘From now henceforth, you should desist from such behaviour’. 

Motube took it personally and became furious at everybody, thinking the headmaster was saying ‘Hansford should desist from such behaviour.’ Up to now, his former schoolmates laugh at him when they see him, he says. The police mouthpiece loves his St. Louis lager, though he explains that he drinks responsibly. By that he means drinking to pass time, respecting all people and not forgetting his household. Above all, it means ensuring that he does not miss police commissioner’s call at anytime. His favourite meal is pap and mogodu, or fish. He likes Gong Master’s music but generally dances to Sungura music from Zimbabwe. He says the songs carry a message.

His favourite holiday destination is Kasane. He reads Law books and also enjoys Macbeth.

For a man who has served the national security for 29 years, Motube recalls the most painful moments. Recovering a crying infant from a pit-larine at Somerset in Francistown and how hot, dark and smelling the toilet was from its deepest fountain. He was five months in the Force. Other incidents include picking scattered body parts of dead people at accident scenes and recovering drowned people from dams. “Back then there was no counselling, we believe that being a police officer proved that you are a real man,” he states.

He would like to be remembered as a man who was always available. He believes everybody is important. Motube served his Tirelo Sechaba in Zwenshambe in 1983. From a constable to where he is right now, he resigned from the BPS in 1990 to pursue studies at Molepolole College of Education, and resumed after three years. He is also the producer and editor for the Crime File radio programme.