From an early age, Kenosi Setlhako Machepa was already making her voice heard, thrusting her ideas and views forward in her school debating team. Engaging in strong debates and arguments with senior learners excited and intrigued her. No subject was too big, or out of reach for the diminutive Machepa to tackle. It’s no wonder; today she is the Head of Communications in the newly formed Women Ministry.
Born in Bloemfontein in the Free State, the 45-year-old says she always knew that she would one day be a communicator or a public speaker. Her public speaking qualities were also recognised by her teacher, who encouraged her to follow that path.
And during an interview with SAnews in her office in Pretoria recently, she recalls the days when she represented her school in top debating competitions.
“I remember my first year in a debating team… we beat our opponent, which was the highest ranking in Bloemfontein. Nobody could beat Lereko High school at the time, but we did,” she says.
“My teacher sat me down and said: ‘This is your path.’ I then started researching about public speaking careers, because I had no idea what it meant. I realised that I had it in me to pursue a career in that field. I continued with public speaking for my high school while researching,” she says.
But Setlhako Machepa had to put her dream of obtaining a Communications Degree on hold when she fell pregnant and had a child at an early age. She ended up doing a Teachers Diploma in the then Strydom College, and now Thaba Nchu College of Education.
After completing her Diploma, she worked for eight years as a primary school teacher.
“My son derailed my dreams of going to university. I had to lower my ambitions because I had brought extra responsibility for my mother, and had to go with the cheapest that I could do, which was then to go to a college,” she explains.
Despite this, Setlhako Machepa refused to give up on her childhood dream. She enrolled with the University of South Africa (UNISA) to study part time, while working as a teacher. She later graduated with a BA Degree in Communications, which opened new doors to her. .
In 2004, she got her first job as a communicator when she was appointed as an Assistant Director: Public Relations by the Free State Department of Education.
Just two years after establishing her communications career, Setlhako Machepa’s dedication and hard work elevated her to a Media Liaison Specialist position at Free State Development Corporation.
She only stayed in that position for a year, before joining the SABC as the Regional Manager: Communications in the Free State. She later moved to Auckland Park in 2007, where she worked as a Communication Specialist in the Technology Division.
One could only be inspired by women like Setlhako Machepa, who seems to keep going up the ladder regardless of the obstacles thrown at her feet.
She was in the midst of those communicating the SABC’s state of readiness ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.
While at the SABC, she also studied for a Management Development Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. Before she joined the then Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, in November 2013, Setlhako Machepa was Head of Communications at the South African Weather Services.
While a shift from corporate communication to government communications may not be an easy thing for many people, Setlhako Machepa embraced the change. She says her dissertation for her Master’s Degree in Media Studies, as well as her upbringing prepared her for the job.
“I’ve seen and experienced the strength of women in my own growing environment. I was raised by a single mother, who was a labourer. She raised me with my two sisters, whom have since passed on.
“At some point in our lives, my mother had to take over four girls of her sister, who went blind and could no longer work. She took care of seven of us with her small salary.”
She points out that being a communicator is not as glamorous as some people may think.
“For instance one cannot be a communicator if he or she cannot relate to people at every level. A true communicator would be able to go down to that level and communicate. If you fail to rise or go down to different target audiences, you are not a communicator.”
Machepa raises the point that the majority of government communicators occupying the position of “spokesperson” are males.
“There is an imbalance that we need to deal with,” she says adding that a pool of more women spokespeople needs to emerge.
But she says she works well with her male colleagues.
She names former Basic Education Spokesperson and now Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and current SAA spokesperson Tlali Tali as some of the people she looks up to.
If she was not a communicator, Setlhako Machepa says she would be a motivational speaker, something she is planning to pursue and use to help others reach their full potential.
Whilst most people struggle to cope with workplace stress, Setlhako Machepa tries to avoid stress at work because she is aware that the office is not her home.
“I’m aware that the comfort I will get will come from home. I shine when I do my work; it’s not about the office space but focussing on what I’m here to do. I’m also aware that we are at different levels as people, and that’s how I always approach people knowing that they are in a different space, so, I must tread carefully.”
Her advice to women: Don’t allow anything to stand in your way and always work towards your goals.
Machepa will next month fly to Scotland, where she will study for a MBA Leadership at the University of Edinburgh. She will be back in South Africa in August next year. – SAnews.gov.za
