Mmegi loyal reader dies
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday January 17, 2022 06:00
He made ‘Letters to the Editor’ fashionable and his letters had been published in national newspapers for decades. A writer who shared his views through pen and paper at the time, Mguni had keen interest in current affairs and all the relevant contemporary issues. He could never shy away from any topic and that’s why publications always had space for his letters.
At Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Mguni could not hide his loyalty to Barata-Phathi team and he was not comfortable with someone in their team inviting an A-team member to their event.
One of the events that he could be remembered for the most was when he was a Master of Ceremony at Samson Guma Moyo’s launch at Matshelagabedi when he deliberately teased the late Minister, Mompati Merafhe in an embarrassing manner and later blamed it on Seabelo Matikiti. He simply did it deliberately because Merafhe was one of the leaders of the A-team and called him a second lieutenant instead of retired lieutenant general at a rally.
“We acknowledge the presence of second lieutenant Merafhe that he managed to attend our rally.” These utterances could not go down well with the former Minister and Mguni did not slot Merafhe to speak and that as well did not go well with him and he (Merafhe) left the rally without saying goodbye. By then Merafhe was the Vice-President and a member of the central committee.
The current Member of Parliament for Francistown South, who is also the late Mguni’s friend, Wynter Mmolotsi described him as an embodiment of peace, humility, humour and love. He said Mguni loved people and would sacrifice his time and resources to serve even those he did not know personally.
“He was a principled man. I first met him in 2001 and by then Mguni believed that I could become a youth leader of the BDP and that was the time when he differed with his best friend, the late Tshelang Masisi. He made sure that I won and groomed me again to contest for BDP primary election for the MP seat. Mguni made sure that I won primaries against his other friend Khumongwana Maoto. Since then, Mguni stood by me till today and even when we defected from the BDP to Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and later Alliance for Progressives (AP), we were still together. He was a councillor from 1999 to 2004 as a specially elected,” Mmolotsi said.
One of the former councillors who worked with Mguni, Peter Ngoma said he was a hard worker for the council who never liked partisanship when doing council duties.
“We were not that close but we related well because he was an honest person. When he had taken a position on an issue in the council, no one could change him. By then, we will have our own caucus meetings as BDP but if he was not supporting certain issues, he will clearly stand up and tell us off immediately. He is one man who was advocating for Tatisiding development. Again we knew his stand when it came to party factions. He played a big role in ensuring that Mmolotsi won party primary election against Maoto and that he (Mmolotsi) wins,” Ngoma said.