29 Jun 2017

Once strong but suddenly becomes weak and eventually see them drift away, eats away at you.

One can imagine the tumultuous wave of feelings that came to the late former President Sir Ketumile Masire family when he took his last breath surrounding him on the night of June 22.

But, getting through such a bleak period, however, proved one thing to Sir Ketumile’s children and grand children; they are stronger than one might think.

Somewhere inside them is a resilience maybe they never thought possible given their relationship with their father whom they described as strong, loving and caring.

First born in the family, Gaone described her father as a man who always wanted the best for his children, a devoted father and very supportive.

Given the fact that fathers seem to be disciplinarians, Gaone said what her father wanted was for them to deliver in everything they did.

She narrated how RaGaone would wake up early morning and no one would just sleep when he was already up.

She said he taught them that they had to work for a living while independence and self-reliance were the most important aspects in life.

“I remember when we were young we used to go to masimo so that we understand that what he was working for and appreciate the little that we have,” she said.

She said they grew up in the era there was nothing and had to ride their bicycles to school and mingled with a lot of children from other families

“So he always said in life we have to understand that we have to share with others not everybody can have everything and we should never take life for granted,” she said.

That, she said was makes them strong in terms of whatever they do, even amidst mourning their father.

She said their father also taught them how to take calculated challenges and risks because “we live in a society where we are expected to perform and as such all of us had to opportunity to their best of ability and excel.”

Further, she said her father had a big impact on her career choice because and she studied public administration, policy management, human resource.

“So I believe in every organisations there are people and people need to be properly managed to achieve their goals. That is the strongest thing I learned from him, especially about commitment and delivery of services.

And all the time, I need to know that we work for people and look after their property.”

As for his character, Gaone was happy that her father would not miss her birthday and would sing for her and that made her know that he really appreciated her.

He was, she added, a very approachable person and was happy that he treated all of them, including his daughters and sons in laws, especially the grandchildren and as a result everybody was happy and had the opportunity to enjoy his love.

“He was also very open and doors were always open for us and he trusted us. You know when you trust your children they will never disappoint you.”

As a child, she would have memories of her father and hers she said was her encounter and experience one day went to masimo.

“Greatest memory I cherish was when we went to collect groundnuts ko masimo a re latlhetse teng gore fa e le gore ga re ithute that is the career we would have. I felt it was torture and my feet were painful. But from that day on we got As. I never got an A but when I recalled the masimo experience I worked hard and that motivated me to look for an international job and make sure that I don’t find myself there.”

As for Moabi, fifth in the family and last-born of the men he had a sort of 2-in-1 relationship in terms of how he grew up under his father.

“There was a time when my mother was alive and my father’s pre-occupation was in politics and farming so there was one character there which was a disciplinarian, hard working. We would wake up in the morning and he used to say never leave for tomorrow, what you can do today.’ Moabi remembers how they would wake up around 5am and sleep later at midnight and travel through the night.

He said his father was never been a typical Setswana father who had no go areas meant for mother or children. “He loved our mother so much in order for her to ensure that we had clothes and everything we needed,” he said.

Moabi said because of the nature of his father’s job and chosen career/profession, he was hardly around but the few hours or days that he was available he used it.

“Because as you know he was a good orator, he would say a lot of things including paradoxes. After our mother passed away, he became our mother, father and a friend and he would start asking us questions that he rarely did when our mother was still alive.”

For him, his father was now wearing many hats and made sure that he called everyone including his grandchildren on their birthdays and sing for them.

“He was very loving, he did not necessarily show it through hugging but we would feel his love the minute he stepped into the room.”

For Moabi, it is not easy to speak of one memory because with him, he travelled a lot with his father because they both had passion in farming and politics.

“When I was young, I was always by his side, carrying his briefcase from BX 6, a vehicle he used as vice president.”

Having spent so much time with his father, Moabi said there was nothing he felt he should have done for his father, saying “in as far as what I may have lost, when a family member passes you always feel you have spent more time with them, to get to know more than what you already knew about them. Other than that, I can’t append a thing that I would say I failed to do for him because he was a very appreciating person.”

He further said he once asked him of the greatest gift he got when he retired and “he told me it was some P36 or so that he received from some resident in some village he visited and really appreciated it.”
As a family person and as president, he said his father used to emphasise to them that his presidency was just a job and never intended to die in office unless it was God’s plan.

“The main thing he wanted us to achieve was firstly to have an education and get a certificate because all worldly possessions can be taken away from you whereas education remained with your brain and can never be taken away from you.

Secondly, he taught us to appreciate people and he tried his best to make sure that we realise that by being children of president we are not special in any way and he always used to emphasise that we live a normal life because that is where we will end up.”

Kaelo Masire, a niece also remembers Ra-Gaone as having taught him a lot of things especially to work hard and to be self-reliant.

He remembers how his uncle would give orders and became unhappy if they failed in whatever assignment he had given them.

“He used to say when you are a part of Masire family once you start something bad, that is how you will live the entire life, and that motivated us to work hard and aim for the starts.”

He also remembers his jokes and said there was never a dull moment with his uncle because he always wore that smile and thus would miss the cheerful character that was his uncle.

To Kaelo, Ra-Gaone was more of a father to him than an uncle. He said he gave him wisdom and therefore loves reading a lot to learn more and more everyday. ENDS