27 Jan 2019

Bishop Emeritus Rt. Reverend Boniface Setlalekgosi of Roman Catholic Botswana has died.

Born in Serowe on September 14, 1927, Bishop Setlalekgosi died on January 25 at the Gaborone Private hospital.

He did his primary and secondary school at St. Joseph’s College where he became a Catholic.

After finishing his secondary education, he started formal work in the church where he was appointed a Catechist at Our Lady of the Desert in Francistown in December 1963 at the age of 26 under Father Urban Murphy who was the priest in charge.

The 91-year old Bishop Setlalekgosi was ordained a priest in Francistown in July 1963 and stationed there again under Father Urban Murphy until he was later transferred to the Cathedral in Gaborone as a Parish Priest and Cathedral Administrator.

He was appointed bishop in 1981 and ordained in 1982 in a historic move that saw him become the first Motswana bishop and the second in the history of the Catholic Church in Botswana succeeding Bishop Murphy, who died on February 27, 1981 and received an Episcopal ordination in March 1982.

Bishop Setlalekgosi retired in 2009.

He was also awarded a Presidential Order of Meritorious Service. ENDS