06 May 2018

After 12 years of selfless service in the civil service as a Journalist, 36-year-old Mr Mothusi Soloko finally caps his pen to enter the business space.

Mr Soloko, who also doubles as Btv Sports presenter, has left the profession he has thrived in to enter the retail terrain.

“I took the decision to go into business because I have realised that native citizens are spectators in their own economy,” he said in an interview.

The award-winning scribe, who enjoys the adrenaline rush of risk taking, said he had never been more comfortable and at peace with himself.

“Journalism is my passion, but I have another calling where I must go at this point in time.

I have never been calmer and more mature. My mind and all my systems are in place. After such a long search I have finally found myself,” he said assuredly.

Mr Kesentse Ketumile, a close friend and colleague who, 2together with Mr Soloko attended South Africa’s North West University and were hired by Department of Information Services almost at the same time in 2005, described him as a shrewd reporter who also exhibited business prowess.

“He is a go getter, he is not the kind to be limited. When he believes in something he would go to great lengths to do it, even if it means bypassing procedure,” he shared.

His business acumen was sharpened over the years. Mr Ketumile reminisced that Mr Soloko owned a Caravella mini bus, which he used to shuttle tourists in Kasane from the airport to their lodging areas.

“He is a bold, daring and extremely brave person who would take challenging assignments that other reporters feared,” he noted.

Mr Ketumile remembered a time when they were fairly new in their job, a strike broke out at the University of Botswana, which turned out to be violent and while other reporters feared to cover the assignment, Mr Soloko or JJ as he was known, was bold enough to take on the assignment.

“He is an adventurous person. We once travelled from Maun to Kasane on a rural reporting mission and we passed through Moremi Game Reserve, which has dangerous animals such as lions, leopards and elephants.

The weather was really bad, rainy and stormy. As we passed through, I was sweating and full of fear, but J.J was calm and seemed to enjoy it,” said the driver, Mr Othusitse Makgoma.

He said he was baffled by his calmness when he steered the Toyota Land Cruiser against the thick sticky mud in the jungle where one wrong move could have turned them into the lions’ supper.

Mr Makgoma described Mr Soloko as a sociable person who interacted freely with everyone irrespective of position and had a soft spot for the needy and the vulnerable.

“He formed Social for Joy Football Club in Kasane, where every Sunday he bought a beast head and the boys would sit, have fun and feast after the game.

The football club is still there,” said Mr Makgoma.

As head of the Department of Information Services, Kasane station, Mr Soloko was a member of various district committees, where critical community issues were discussed and during the time the HIV/AIDS pandemic was rife in that tourist attraction hub.

Mr Soloko came up with an initiative to help.

“I formed this Social for Joy Football Club because I wanted to help curb the HIV scourge, every three months the boys tested for HIV, and I worked with Men Sector.

We also supported the poor people in the community with sponsorship proceeds that we got from the club,” he said.

Apart from his endless escapades, Mr Soloko, who leaves the department as Kutlwano Magazine assignment editor, is described as a jocular personality who would crack jokes and ease up tension emanating from tight deadlines.

Former Kutlwano editor, Mr Thomas Nkhoma who used to be Mr Soloko’s direct supervisor, described him as a unique kind of Journalist.

“He is a dare devil who has nose for news, very unique, interesting and exercised high quality of investigative Journalism. He is not shy to engage anyone irrespective of the place, audience, platform or the position of the person he is talking to,” stated Mr Nkhoma.

Mr Nkhoma said he used to engage Mr Soloko a lot professionally and he was relentless and would defend his ideas to the latter.

 “At some point we argued on philosophical concepts to a point where he said to me, ‘you think you are the only one who has a monopoly of knowledge’” Mr Nkhoma laughed as he reminisced about their intellectual engagements.

Mr Soloko caps his mighty pen with pride. His memorable experiences about his Journalism career was when he was awarded Media Institute of Southern Africa award for his ‘Dare Devil’ story in 2013 where he investigated a Satanism story in Maun and solicited help for the teenage ring leader.

“It was a humanitarian, empathy kind of story where I demystified the myths, where I transformed lives directly, I felt happy,” he said with a smile.

Another memorable experience he said, was when he broke out an investigative story about General Insurance Botswana.

He went undercover and investigated organisational mismanagement and exposed its weak systems where the insurance sector was not monitored.

The headline story was picked by other media houses who made the necessary noise after Mr Soloko unearthed it.

“I was delighted to hear President Festus Mogae mention the issue in his speech back then,” he said.

He had done the necessary ground work of whistle blowing, which is the core of journalism where the story then got picked by the authorities who then influenced policy and legislation formulation and it gave birth to the now Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBIFIRA).

“The directors of the company wrote us a letter threatening a law suit, but I was not fazed because we had covered our bases, we had our facts right and we were ready for court, but it died a natural death, the organisation folded,” he said with contentment.

Unlike many who work, but struggle to make ends meet, Mr Soloko did not want to store his eggs in one basket and consistently sought ways of improving his life.

“At some point I did not have a television set in my house, I had invested my money in business, but was struggling to break even. It was really tough, but I knew where I was going.

Things got better when I opened my second store. I was able to buy all those things that I wanted including clothes that I like,” he said with a smile, draped in a stylish cream leather jacket and matching Pringle cap.

He is particularly thankful for his breakthrough to the director of Information Services, Ms Maria Leshongwane for believing in his capabilities and business magnate Mr Satar Dada for opening his doors to mentor him.

He exits the civil service content at the opportunities it had afforded him were able to help him find his purpose in life.

 “Going on a media trip to the United States of America two years ago where I had the opportunity to visit the Thomas Edison’s House, see Martin Luther King statue showed me that anything is possible,” he said.

He said these sparked him up to pursue his path in business, “After a long search I have found my purpose at the right time when I am still young,” he said.

As it is the norm in Journalism, Mr Soloko has received his fair share of threats and law suits for penning the truth about people, organisations and institutions.

 “I have quite a number of people who threatened to beat me up because of the brutal truth I had written about them such as the late Township Rollers coach, Banks Panene, former Zebras goal keeper, Kagiso Tshelametsi to mention but a few,” he stated.

Mr Soloko did not become a Journalist by default, he knew these threats existed in the media industry. Interestingly, he was admitted to the University of Botswana to study Electrical Engineering and Electronics in 2001 based on his good Science grades, but he chose North West University where he graduated with a Mass Communication degree.

But notably, throughout his high school days he demonstrated scientific prowess where he scooped position one in Science fairs at the national level.

Thus one would have thought he would have become a scientist.

When asked why, he had this to say, “I didn’t want to be imprisoned by Science because scientists work within theoretic confines.

I chose to study communications because I like talking, communication gives me a chance to apply my creativity, argue my position and interrogate issues,” he said.

Mr Soloko is seen by many as someone who does not believe in diplomacy for he calls a spade a spade, not a digging tool. ENDS