22 Oct 2020

Former national fly weight and bantamweight champion, Tefo Maitewa, will be buried in Molepolole on Sunday.

His burial would be subsequent to a memorial service at Molepolole Sport Complex tomorrow (October 23).

He died last week at Scottish Livingstone Hospital after battling a brain tumor (Glioma), a rare form of cancer.

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare visited the family today to relay a message of condolences.  

Rakgare said the ministry and government were saddened by the passing of a champion whose future was promising.

He said Maitewa was preparing for the Olympic Games and it was hoped that he would fly the Botswana flag as part of the national team.

In an interview, Botswana Boxing Association (BoBA) president, Thato Patlakwe described Maitewa as a rare gem.

“He was a southpaw (left hand), an exceptional quality that gives any boxer an advantage over his competitors and boxers of his caliber in Botswana are rare to find. We thought the future of boxing was with him, he was talented,” he said.  

Patlakwe also indicated that the 22-year-old was identified during his junior school days at Moruakgomo Junior Secondary School.  In 2015, he was picked in the youth team and represented the country at the 2016 AUSC Angola youth games where he won a silver medal.

Maitewa was a sparring partner of the 12th All Africa Games gold medalist, Mahommed Rajab.

Furthermore, he said it was  unfortunate that in their journey with him, they never suspected that he was ill since every boxer went through screening tests before any training camp.  

He said Maitewa was even declared fit before he competed at the Olympics qualifiers in Senegal in February this year.

He, however ,said he started showing signs of ill health during the first lockdown around April and underwent surgery.  

Patlakwe stressed that the tumor was not related to sport, like some people suggested, explaining that it was an uncontrollable kind of cancer.  

He said they were planning to introduce occupational and physiotherapy with hope that his condition would improve.

Former boxer and Molepolole Boxing Club official, Olaotse Rannobe, said Maitewa was a good person to relax with, loving and caring.  He also said that he was strong, courageous having passion for the sport and always punctual for training.  In him, he said he had lost a champion, brother and a son.

On one hand, 12th All Africa Games silver medallist, Aratwa Kasemang, said she met Maitewa in 2016 when she started playing the sport. They then became close when they were preparing for the Commonwealth Games in 2017.  They became friends and confided in each other. 

“Maitewa was a dreamer, he always told me that he wanted to compete in the Olympic Games so that he could help his mother and his siblings,” she said.

Healer Modiradilo, former Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) sport development officer said he met Maitewa during the 2017 Botswana Games in Francistown representing Kweneng District in the 52kg category.

“I saw him playing and he lost in the quarter finals and failed to reach medal stage but I was impressed by his performance and drafted him in our youth development team to prepare for 2016 youth games in Angola and beyond,” he said.

He said as a southpaw boxer, Maitewa possessed good physical attributes, confidence and skill, adding he demonstrated passion, discipline and commitment to boxing both in and outside training and kept on improving.

Again, he said Maitewa was part of out of school team occasionally training with senior team and was Rajab’s chief sparring partner during his preparation for 2017 world championships in Germany. 

With a promising career, in 2018, Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) selected him to accompany the Commonwealth Games team to Gold Coast as part of his development.  

During the 2019 National Championships, he lost to George Molwantwa of BMC and was dropped from the national team and in 2019 national championships, he defeated two national champions both Molwantwa and Treasure Moremi of DTCB and reclaimed his position in the team.

Modiradilo said he was part of the Olympic qualifiers team and through his hard work and discipline he was convinced that he had a bright future ahead.  He said the boxing fraternity will miss him dearly. ends