By Ambassador Oteng Jenamo Tebape
| A close aide remembers former President Festus Gontebanye Mogae as a humble servant of the people, a disciplined guardian of public resources, and a compassionate leader whose fight against HIV/AIDS helped save a nation. |
HUMBLE ROOTS
I had the rare privilege of serving former President Rre Festus Gontebanye Mogae as his Senior Private Secretary and Clerk to Cabinet. Following his retirement, I continued to serve and help to settle him into his new capacity as former president.
My close interaction with Rre Mogae exposed me to many of the personal attributes and blessings with which our leader was richly endowed. His modest upbringing, which he readily shared with others, evidently laid the foundation for his close bond with ordinary citizens.
Even as President, Rre Mogae felt at home with ordinary citizens with whom he would readily share traditional cuisine like thogo ya pudi, or goat head, well into the night.
PEOPLE FIRST
Managing my late President’s official programme was a challenging task because, if he had his way, Ra Nametso would accept to meet every citizen who asked to do so. He was evidently pained by having to regret a request to meet anybody or to patronise an event he was asked to attend.
I still recall the sarcastic comment someone once made: “Wena boss ya gago kooteng ha ke ka mo laletsa go bula toilet o ka dumela.”
On the positive side, that negative sounding remark said a lot about our late leader’s love for the people he led and his humble spirit. May his humility be a guide to all Batswana in leadership positions.
A LEARNED MIND
One cannot speak about President Mogae without mentioning his intellectual prowess and admirable ability to discuss any topic. Our late President was a fountain of knowledge, and those of us who were privileged to work closely with him reaped enormously from the outstanding consultant that he was.
As I witnessed his commendable fight to reverse the ravages of HIV/AIDS, I could tell that Rre Mogae was not only appealing for help from other countries as the President. More than that, his campaign to save the nation’s youth in particular was more like that of a compassionate fellow citizen, a patriot and a loving father who felt the loss of his children personally.
SAVING LIVES
On trips to countries such as the United States, where there were numerous groups willing to listen to his appeal for help, Ra Nametso would work well into the night to relate his message to everyone who had the potential to help with resources.
May Rre Mogae’s name go down in history as a leader who saved us and our children from the ravages of HIV/AIDS.
Another evident attribute about our late President was his serious attention to the custody of public funds and his demand for accountability. As one example, every Presidential delegation list our supporting team recommended to him had to be put through a fine comb and was most often trimmed down. His local trips were no exception.
PUBLIC DISCIPLINE
Our former President disliked heavy security and excessive protocol. I recall that on many occasions during local visits, I had to explain why it was necessary for him to be received by a long convoy of public officers who drove expensive Landcruisers. To him, that practice was both wasteful and unnecessary.
There is yet another example that I recall. During one of his public meetings in Serowe, President Mogae noticed that many old people were sitting on school chairs. Before he started addressing the group, he complained strongly against the practice of adults using and breaking their grandchildren’s school chairs. He strongly reminded the old men in particular that they had lost their tradition of carrying their own chairs to meetings.
CONSENSUS BUILDER
President Mogae’s Cabinet meetings used to take many hours because he was a firm believer in consultation, consensus building and democratic practice. Although, as President, he had the power to overrule his Cabinet as the chief executive, Rre Mogae hardly saw the need to do so.
One other evident attribute former President Mogae had was that he did not only receive a good education at Oxford but was also well grounded in the public service, having served Botswana in senior positions for many years. Rre Mogae’s service abroad had also built him into a formidable source of information and performer.
FINAL GRATITUDE
As we mourn the passing of our leader, former President Mogae, we need to be grateful to him for many things. We thank him for leaving us a well performing national economy, for promoting accountability in the use of public resources, for maintaining and promoting our democratic tradition, for the national unity we enjoyed under him, for his evident patriotism, for his humility and, above all, for saving the nation from the ravages of HIV/AIDS.
I extend my deepest condolences to Mme MmaNametso, to the children and to all family members. May Ra Nametso’s soul rest in peace.
AUTHOR NOTE
Ambassador Oteng Jenamo Tebape is a former Botswana Ambassador to Japan who was appointed Senior Private Secretary in the Office of former President Festus Mogae after Mogae left office. His relevance to President Mogae’s life comes from that close official service, first as Senior Private Secretary and Clerk to Cabinet, and later as part of the former president’s post retirement office.