22 Mar 2020

Obedient, humble, handworker and patriotic were some of the words used to eulogise fallen hero, Lance Corporal Obakeng Tlhaloganyo who died in line of duty last week after exchange of fire with poachers in the North West district.

One of the speakers, Member of Parliament for Okavango Mr Kenny Kapinga who was speaking on behalf of the Speaker of the National Assembly, said that there was no death as honourable as dying on national duty. Mr Kapinga is also chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Foreign, Defence and Justice.

Mr Kapinga said that although such deaths as Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo’s were unfortunate, they were nevertheless a hallmark of a true patriot.

Narrating the unfortunate incident, Botswana Defence Force (BDF) representative, Brigadier Gaboratanelwe Tshweneetsile who is also the head of the Special Forces Unit said that around 9pm the previous night the patrol team heard some gun shots and knew that it was the poachers.

“The team then set out to search, they patrolled the whole night and managed to find where the shooting occurred, but unfortunately around 330am there was fire exchange between the soldiers and the poachers, claiming the life of our son,” he said.

He also indicated that unfortunately, they lost trail of the rest of the poachers after killing one of them. 

Brigadier Tshweneetsile said that Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo had little chance of survival as the weapon used on him was a heavy weapon used to down elephants.

He also indicated that the fight against poachers was a serious one as they faced enemies that were so determined, considering the amount that the rhino horns fetch especially on the black market.

“The horn fetches such a high amount of money that the poachers would even risk everything to get them, but as the BDF we will not be deterred. We cannot just sit back and watch poachers destroy what is ours,” he said.

Brigadier Tshweneetsile also implored parents not to be deterred by such unfortunate incidents and prevent their children from joining the army. 

“Such incidents should instead make us more determined to fight back,” he said.

He said that the death of Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo equally saddened the BDF as it did his family and friends. 

He described the deceased as a determined soldier and a hard worker whose hardcore personality became evident when he applied to join the Special Forces Unit.

“This is a unit where we select individual from among the soldiers. We do not recruit from outside and after selection we re-train them. 

We normally start with around 400 soldiers, but at the end of the training we normally have just around 30,” he said.

He said that Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo tried his luck the first time and failed to make the cut, but because of his determination, he tried again the second time and succeeded, something which he said needed courage.

His uncle, Mr Mosipidi Mokgolele also sang praises of the fallen hero, saying that as his uncle, never even once was he called to reprimand him for any sort of misbehavior as would be his role if he misbehaved.

“Growing up, we only knew him as a very obedient child and we were still expecting more from him. Pity his life was cut prematurely but as a family, we will take solace in the fact that he died protecting the national treasurers,” he said.

Church representatives from the Zion Christian Church of which he was a staunch member also sang similar praises about Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo, and said that his army discipline was even evident in church.

For his part, headman of arbitration for Gapanyana ward where Lance Corporal Tlhaloganyo hailed appreciated the BDF for their support since the incident happened, from assisting with personnel to help and availing counselling for the bereaved family.

Lance Corporal joined the BDF in 2009 as a Private and was promoted to Lance Corporal in 2012. He leaves behind a daughter and a sister. ends