29 Jun 2017

For Mr Kebatlamang Morake the passing of the former President Sir Ketumile Masire is a time to celebrate not only a country statesman but a mentor and a friend.

 

He goes down memory lane to how is the country’s first crop of parliamentarians they were, as they selflessly gave themselves up to shed off the protectorate image to build an independent economically stable African country.

 

While Mr Morake could not remember the year, perhaps due to old age and the grief, he remembers that he first worked with him while he (Morake) was the executive secretary of the BDP and the late Masire was the secretary general of the same political party and at the same time the deputy prime Minister.

 

Mr Morake narrates how they operated the affairs of the party in QKJ’s garage that served as the party office.

 

He describes the late Rra Gaone as a patient, intelligent and good advisor who was not fearful of giving anybody with a different view from his opportunity to be heard.

 

Mr Morake notes that with his experience as a journalist, Rra Gaone mentored and honed his writing skills and together they contributed articles to Therisanyo, which was a BDP newspaper that was used to disseminate the party’s message across the country.

 

He further says while Rra Gaone was a good advisor it was not always easy to understand his advises until such a time that you had to put them into practice.

 

He remembers one day when the then Bechuanaland was about to be given independence, he approached Sir Ketumile to advise him on what to expect when travelling with an airplane as he(Morake) was to travel to London on an official visit.

 

He said to me “Rakes! A ga e sale o nna kana a o kile wa kopana le monna yo o godileng mme a sa nyala, mme a re mathata ke gore ga a itse go batla banyana?” meaning instead of telling him what to expect Sir Ketumile instead asked him whether he has at his age met any man who does not have a wife just because he does not know how to propose.

 

“Ke dule mo Botswana ke ipotsa gore monna yo ke eng a nkaraba jaana mme mo tseleng ka lemoga gore o nkarabile ka jaana mo mosepeleng mongwe le mongwe go na le dikgwetlho, mme ga di kake tsa faposa maikaelelo a mosepele,” Mr Morake said shedding a tear.

 

Mr Morake says during his presidential term, Sir Ketumile followed Sir Seretse Khama’s style of leadership but the only difference was that Rra Gaone, as he was affectionately known, liked jokes.

 

He says Rra Gaone’s love of passing jokes helped as even when the environment was tense he will joke about it and people will end up bursting into laughter.

 

The other character that he will remember Rra Gaone for is a good command of spoken Setswana language and his ability to replace offensive words with amiable ones particularly during public speaking.

He says he was one of the cabinet ministers that Sir Ketumile had confident in as in a number of occasions he appointed him to act as the president while he was away from the country, “ke tsaya gore o ne a ntshepa ka gore kana o ka seke wa adima motho se sa gago o sena bosupi ja gore e tlaare o re tsisa a go neele,” he said as he smiles and wipes another tear on his left eye. May His Soul Rest in External Peace.  ENDS