Sehube Signs Off From The

For more than three decades, his voice rolled out of radios across Botswana like thunder in a drum. Deep, deliberate, unmistakable. If radio had a mascot, it was Mr Bampeile ‘Mascot’ Sehube.

This week, the son of Nata village will sign off from public service for the last time. But he will not be leaving the airwaves quietly. He will be trading his headphones for a hoe, retiring into agriculture.

From steel fixer to news anchor, Mr Sehube’ s journey to the microphone began with curiosity. Growing up in Nata, he was inspired by former Radio Botswana announcer, Mr Gaoomang Mosi, whose voice he listened to daily. “What inspired me most was to know how someone could speak through a radio,” he recalled.

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“Where does he sit? Is he inside the talking machine? It gave me sleepless nights.” Motivated, he left his six-month piece job as a steel-fixing labourer in Sowa and caught a bus to Gaborone.

Colleagues warned him he would never find work with only a Form Five ‘C’ pass and that cattle herding was his best option. He proved them wrong. He presented himself at Radio Botswana for an interview conducted by the late Mr Jerry Masite, then Station Manager.

Six candidates turned up for three posts. Among them were Mr Mmoloki Mothibi and another Mr Mothibi from Mahalapye. Mr Sehube and Mr Mothibi were successful, though the Mahalapye candidate later resigned, saying the P342 monthly salary was too small.

The decisive question was: “Which radio programme do you like most?” His answer: Newsreel. Little did he know it would be the very programme that would make him a household name. Candidates were also tested on whether they were regular listeners.

Because he had been travelling the day before, Mr Sehube could only recall the previous day’s Newsreel. He recounted the stories. The panel sighed and said: “This is the person we are looking for.” After three months of silence, an offer letter arrived.

On arrival, on 21 October 1990, he was assigned to Mr Michael Ditlhakeng, Head of the Newsreel programme. He joined a few days after Ms Lesego Kgajwane.

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