12 Oct 2022

As the University of Botswana (UB) celebrates its 40th anniversary, plans are afoot to pay tribute to the country’s second president and also the university’s first chancellor, Sir Ketumile Masire through a ceremony penciled for Kanye on October 14.

Born July 23, 1925, Sir Ketumile became UB’s first chancellor from 1980 to 1998, during his tenure as president and later re-appointed from 2008 until his passing in June 2017. 

Consequently, his contribution towards the development of the country and subsequently to the university was recognised by naming the 450-bed state of the art health facility after him: Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital.

Even though his appointment to the helm of Botswana’s prestigious learning institution was by virtue of him being president of the country, Sir Ketumile’s footprints in the education sector remained visible in his home village, Kanye.

An elder in Kanye, Mr Basimanebotlhe Kgomotso has traced Sir Ketumile’s path to when the village had only five primary schools whose structures were mainly built with clay and ‘dipolwana’.

The junior certificate was offered in Middle School, now known as Segopotso Primary School.

“From Tiger Kloof, Quett went to teach at the then Middle School, which was the only one offering Junior Certificate. At the time Kanye had five primary schools being East, Central, Nyorosi West, Legonono and Hill, which offered Sub A up to Standard 4. Junior school offered Standards 5 and 6, and it was at Middle School where people graduated with JC,” he said.

Mr Kgomotso said even though he was still young at the time, he recalled his elders narrating how Sir Ketumile’s pace as a teacher was rather fast for his learners, owing to his intelligence especially inclined towards agriculture.

“As a teacher, he excelled in agriculture and his passion and commitment towards farming saw him develop into a reference point for farmers in the region,” he added.

It, therefore, did not come as a surprise to many when Sir Ketumile later left his school principal job to venture into farming full time. Even though some documentation indicate that he was the founder of Seepapitso Senior Secondary school, Mr Kgomotso believes this not to be accurate, since, according to him, the school was established after he left the teaching fraternity.

However, Mr Kgomotso believed that in addition to the role he played in grassroots education, Sir Ketumile used his influence to develop Kanye and its peripheries. 

“Ra Gaone was unique in the sense that he could not use his influence to develop Kanye during his tenure as a cabinet minister and ultimately president.”

Even though he is aware of various versions concerning his elder brother’s association with Seepapitso Senior Secondary School, Mr Basimanyana Masire said it was not easy to establish the accurate chronological order of events after Sir Ketumile Masire left Middle School. 

“I was still very young so it is not clear to me how things unfolded. But I remember he worked with Bias Mookodi during his teaching career,” he briefly stated. Ends