03 Jul 2017

Hundreds of mourners thronged Chadibe to pay their last respects to the Botswana National Front’s (BNF) political education secretary, Dr Elmon Tafa on July 1.

Speakers at the funeral described Comrade Moore as he was known in the political circles, as a political guru, a Marxist, an educationist, trade unionist, passionate writer, analyst, avid reader and an eloquent speaker.

One of the speakers, Professor Opha Dube said her brother was a reserved and sensitive person whose bravery and analytical skills surprised his parents.

Professor Dube said her late brother loved education as he believed it was a key to liberation.

She told the mourners  at one point that  their father did not want dr Tafa to further his studies after Form 5 as he was good at household chores but he shocked the family when he fought for his right to continue to tertiary.

She said her brother was a special person in the family in such a way that when there was a family meeting that he did not attend he will be forgiven but the rest of the siblings could be scolded for coming late for such gatherings.

One of Dr Tafa’s seven children, Mr Nhlanhla Othusitse thanked Batswana for supporting the family during the time of their bereavement.

Mr Othusitse said his father dedicated most of his time to serving the nation and in doing so he was always guided by his conviction hence his decision at one point to contest the general elections as an independent parliamentary candidate.

One of Dr Tafa’s former students, Mr Solly Rakgomo said the late mentored his students to view politics with an analytical eye adding that as a result of that he (Rakgomo) was a newspaper columnist.

Mr Rakgomo who described how Dr Tafa hated intellectual mediocrity made the mourners crack in laughter when he told them that they were told that the  acronym IMF which stood for International Monetary Fund was rather Imperialist Monetary Fund.

Professor  Kalmon Mogalakwe said dr Tafa was one of the people who desired that the BNF could retain its original status and was therefore given many party assignments such as writing of policy positions on a number of topics.

Professor Mogalakwe said the recent assignment was when Dr Tafa was assigned with other colleagues from the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), Botswana People’s Party (BPP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) in the harmonisation of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).

Mabutsane MP, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile said Dr Tafa’s love for BNF was evident when he stood with the party at the time when most of its MPs defected to form the BCP.

He described how the late wrote a number of articles in the press to assure Batswana that BNF still existed.

Mr Ntlhaile called on the BNF youth to honour the late activist by setting a BNF political school.

BMD secretary general, Mr Gilbert Mangole said Dr Tafa differed with a lot of politicians because instead of attacking others during political rallies he would teach on what politics was.

He said the death of Dr Tafa was the biggest loss to the BMD because as new party which was splinter from the ruling one, they did not have enough opportunity to learn from his political teaching.

BNF vice president, Dr Prince Dibeela noted that Dr Tafa built his reputation in the political arena and he taught a lot of politicians that they should not be power hungry but rather have the interest of changing the lives of Batswana at heart.

BNF chairperson, Ms Abigail Mogalakwe said while Dr Tafa was educated, he was not after having a position in the party but was a selfless politician who traversed the country at his self-sponsorship trp to reach to the people and educate them on politics.

Dr Tafa’s brother, Mr Ezekiel Dube said Cmd Moore succumbed to diabetes on June 26 at Princess Marina Hospital.

Messages of condolences from the UB vice chancellor and workers unions were read at the funeral.

Dr Tafa was born on September 30, 1959 and started his primary studies at Tlhalogang from 1964-1970.

He then proceed to Mater Spei, University of Botswana and Swaziland and later returned to the University of Botswana for his Masters in 1987.

In 1998, he completed his Masters of Philosophy in Cambridge University and finished his PhD in Birmingham University in 2001. ENDS