26 Jun 2017

Scores of speakers and well-wishers descended Swaneng Hill School on Saturday, to relive with hindsight the life of a man whose commitment to changing lives of Batswana was unparalleled, at least according to speakers at the memorial service.

In exalting Maritzburg as Mr Patrick van Rensburg was called by those who struggled to pronounce his Afrikaner name, speakers used immortalising superlatives and nouns that rendered the late a genius of gargantuan proportions.

In drawing from memories written indelibly in their minds, speakers drew an icon apparently larger than Serowe, a village he called home.

In their eulogies speakers dished a plethora of superlatives that immortalised the Afrikaner who turned a Motswana patriot.

He founded the Central Brigades and Swaneng Hill School amongst a cart full of badges, achievements and accolades.

An ever bushy bearded man, Mr van Rensburg was born in Durban on December 1, 1931 to Cecile Marie-Louise van Rensburg and Peter Maxwell, an English speaking South African.

He took his last breath on May 16, and was ultimately cremated.

Central to the deluges of exaltations were his heavy inclination towards education with production, his principled approach to life and his overall love for empowering people.

A brief message from President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama directed to the family as delivered by Central District Acting District Commissioner Mr Charles Modise hailed Mr van Rensburg’s pivotal role in shaping Botswana’s education.

The President conveyed sympathy to the family and said that the legacy of Mr van Rensburg lives on.

Former and third president of Botswana Mr Festus Mogae candidly conceded difficulties in talking about ‘a complex man that achieved many things.’

A former student of Moeng College, Mr Mogae warmheartedly relived the events of his acquaintance with Mr Van Rensburg in 1962.

It was during school holidays that together with two of his friends were charged with preparing a site for construction of some building.

The former president dispelled beliefs that Mr van Rensburg bore allegiance to opposition BNF saying, “He wasn’t BDP or BNF.”

His rebuttal ignited some murmurs of disbelief from some sections of well-wishers.

However, he conceded that Mr van Rensburg together with Mr Gobe Matenge (BNF member and Mr Mogae’s friend) would criticise him for being a capitalist in many of their monthly meetings.

The winner of Mo Ibrahim award and champion of HIV/AIDS Mr Mogae regretted that Serowe could have drawn maximum benefits of brigades since the concept of brigades was born and bred in the village.

“He was a great man of thought,” Mr Mogae said in his parting words.

A student of Mr van Rensburg, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi fondly recounted how Mr van Rensburg valued education with production which molded a well-rounded individual.

Although she admitted failing to fish for the finest superlative that would incisively depict the greatness in the man who launched Foundation for Education with Production, Dr Venson-Moitoi said Mr van Rensburg was a great man.

Dr Venson-Moitoi who also wrote for Mmegi wa Dikgang under Mr van Rensburg, a sworn anti-apartheid activist, narrated how she once got the latter suspected for authoring an article laced with color lines.

The former minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Venson-Moitoi said that Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) which she recommended and was approved for dual pathway at junior schools was influenced by her mentor.

Mr Duma Boko of BNF and also leader of opposition in Parliament held Mr van Rensburg in elevated regards and believed that the latter’s ideals would have shot Botswana to a first world status but, was now ‘a matter of great regret.’

Mr Boko dubbed Mr van Rensburg a genius with ‘bottomless energy and cultivated talent.’

When arguing that the country owed it to its people to speak the truth about Mr van Rensburg, he also found that the deceased provided creative solutions to pressing challenges the country faced.

To the eldest son Tom, his father was a principled man who inculcated in them not to accept any form of injustice.

The father of three, Mr van Rensburg would teach his children to tap on their brains and transform their lives and those of the people around them. ENDS