11 Jan 2015

Past immediate former Vice President Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe says the late Lt. General Mompati Merafhe was a transformative leader.

Speaking in interview Dr Kedikilwe described the late former Vice President as a good leader who was courageous and always wanted to be a front runner.

Dr Kedikilwe noted that he worked with the late Gen Merafhe for more than 42 year and during their initial times of working together around 1976 it was very tough as the country was facing economic difficulties.

He said that at that time the GDP was under 17 per cent, agriculture under 21 percent and mining was also below 17 per cent.

Dr Kedikilwe remembers one summit he attended with Gen Merafhe in Lusaka, Zambia where some leaders were impress by Gen Merafhe’s input.

He said his courage was tested when 15 members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) were killed during the Lesoma ambush. Then he was the commander of the newly formed BDF.

Most leaders in the region then were entangled in a difficult situation of trying to find peace in the region and it was where people like the late Gen Merafhe had to be involved.    

Dr Kedikilwe said it was during this time that even those leaders who were supposed to bring peace in Zimbabwe being Messrs Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo were themselves at loggerheads. Botswana felt the brand of housing a considerable number of Zimbabwean refugees.

At the time, Gen Merafhe was also engaged in talks with the Zimbabwean government to come up with a solution which could bring peace in the region.

Dr Kedikilwe would again remember Gen Merafhe participating in negotiation with the South African apatheid region and the then Bophuthatswana Bantustan on Botswana trains going to South Africa which led to the construction of Rakhuna Rail station where Botswana trains ended.

Gen Merafhe saw it all, he was there during the South African commando raids in Bontleng, Mogoditshane and the Mophane Club bombing in Francistown.

Dr Kedikilwe also remembers the marvelous way Gen Merafhe handled the shooting of Sir Ketumile Masire’s Presidential jet in Angola.

Dr Kedikilwe picks a quote from his retirement speech which he said summed up what the late Gen Merafhe stood for;

 “There is neither room for complacency nor despondency, our path for development has shown that we have been neither foolish nor full hardy, it is a visionary path sustained by purposeful determination. Many hurdles have been turned into opportunities. The apartheid era which reaped havoc in our Southern African midst and mist we withered the storm of the issues thereof merely armed with the might of the principle of the equality of man and human dignity and the courage of conviction.”

Gen Merafhe who is the third vice president to have passed away since independence died on January 07 and will be laid to rest at his home village of Serowe on January 17. ENDS