02 Feb 2015

“Oh no! Not Logong!” Like Nomsa Lefhenya-Palopalo on Kagelelo Relaeng’s Facebook post, many Batswana must have reacted with a certain measure of disbelief when news on the passing on of University of Botswana (UB) academic and newspaper columnist,  Mr Log Raditlhokwa, 50, filtered through.

Mr Raditlhokwa, who worked as a social work lecturer at UB, died at Bokamoso Private Hospital after succumbing to diabetes on January 26.

 What a loss, many would agree because not only was he a lecturer but a prolific writer and social columnist of note. I was fond of reading his column, Social File, in the Midweek Sun newspaper.

 He wrote with verve and good measure of gusto and not one to shy away from taking you head on in his column whenever he felt strongly about a subject and convinced himself you were misdirecting yourself.

 I recall our academic sparring in the Midweek Sun in 2010 after I took issue with his assertion in his column that girls preferred good looks and not empowerment hence women were to a large extent to blame for society’s weak moral fiber.

“Nkhoma’s understanding of the purpose and effects of girls’ socialization is unacceptable one-dimensional,” wrote Raditlhokwa in his column responding to my argument that his observation fell short of identifying and dissecting the root cause of some social ills.

 However, many remember him as this larger than life character who was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in or venture into what many thought was the preserve of a select few.

“I am privileged to have been a classmate to this larger than life character between 1986 and 1990 when [we] were reading for Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), writes Mr Kagelelo Relaeng in his Facebook post titled “Fare Thee Well Shuffle (My Tribute to Log Raditlhokwa).”

Mr Relaeng fondly reminisces about their students at UB and describes Raditlhokwa as a very bright student who could engage in very complex academic discourse with ease. “Law student had had this thing in them that we could not handle the complexities of doing a law subject. 

But when they realised that our performance matched theirs they rationalised that constitutional law was just a collection of straightforward compositions hence the good marks.  They challenged us to do Mercantile and other “proper” laws to appreciate what they meant,” recalls Relaeng.

He says matters came to head one day when Raditlhokwa had to present a case that Professor Daniel Nsereko assigned him. He presented the case without referring to any notes. 

Awed by Mr Raditlhokwa’s eloquence and lucidity, the professor asked him whether he was reading, recalls Relaeng. 

“Log answered that he had read the case and was fully acquainted [with] the facts. The prof. then remarked ‘You should have studied law’. Some of us laughed this off oblivious of the impact it had on Log.

He got very furious and vowed that the prejudicial attitude towards Social Work would stop,” remembers Relaeng.  He says then Raditlhokwa led a delegation that went to see the ‘prof’ in his office ‘to call him to order”. 

Forever a considerate and good natured man he is, Nsereko unreservedly apologised and even carried out our further instructions to call upon law students to respect us. In all this, Relaeng highlights what he calls a “beautiful coincidence” that Raditlhokwa’s full name, Logong, means log (of wood) usually for lighting fire.

An academic sparring he once had with Raditlhokwa on issues of gays and lesbians is vivid etched in Relaeng’s mind. “We have indeed lost a true champion of human virtues whose tireless search for the answers to the problems of this world guided him to become one of the Christians of note. 

We will forever cherish his inspiration and mentorship,” laments Relaeng who says he never missed his “Social File” installation right from the time when he approached social issues from an academic perspective right up to the time when he now looked at issues using the biblical analysis.

“Hopefully those of us who at some point were his companions, have learnt one or two things from him. Rest in peace Shuffle! Like many of us, he went through several phases in life. 

One that I remember vividly is when he came back from Canada with a Carribean accent and the name Log !” writes Kenny Kapinga on Relaeng’s post. Kapinga a former UB classmate, is now Botswana high commissioner to Zimbabwe.

“I loved the way he spoke his English, I couldn’t figure out what accent it was (thanks Kenny Kapinga), and his command of Setswana was also quite impressive” adds Eunice Mogakolodi in a rejoinder.

Mogakolodi says she enjoyed his lessons on “Personal Development”. “He would move vigorously from one point of the lecture room to the next and say to us, ‘Hey honey, you must do...you must do...you must do”.
“I will miss his column!” writes Basi Stephen Tiroyakgosi. He says the column always aroused interesting discussions in his household.

 
“I generally took an anti-Log position and the wife was some acolyte of the views expressed therein. We met many years ago as 1st year students at UB. He displayed a typical sense of humility ya ngwana wa Motswana,” recalls Tiroyakgosi on Relaeng’s Facebook post. 

Tiroyakgosi also remembers Raditlhokwa as this individual who abhorred an “uncouth display of sophistication typically referred to a bo-cat. I remember meeting him at Shoprite by Gaborone station when he was fresh from Canada...his Caribbean was even deeper than in the later years”.

“This is so sad indeed! We have truly lost a great leader and friend. I am very lucky and honoured to be one of his products and to have professionally worked with him on several projects,” writes Masego Motsewakgosi tweeter.

“A great humble man indeed, he touched so many lives through his commitment to serving the UB community and society at large. 

I’ve had numerous encounters with him and every time I left his office or his lecture room I felt uplifted. 

A great counsellor he was,” writes Elena05.
Shuffle they called him, a nickname his UB classmates say they picked from his former school mates at Selebi Phikwe Secondary School. They were the first UB graduates of social work. So long Shuffle. 

He will be buried in Tlokweng on Friday. He leaves behind his wife and two children, a boy and  girl. May your soul rest in peace!
ENDS