The year 2025: Media's sniveling year
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday December 22, 2025 06:00
In the vernacular, sometimes a bad year is condemned to the gutters, to the extent of wishing it never existed, “Ngwaga o o sa nthateng ga o fete.”
To their fellow scribes and family members, the year 2025 is a year they will definitely choose to forget swiftly. This is because the year had inflicted untold pain and misery, as death had struck when it mattered the most. Journalists are comfortable telling their stories, including bereavement or tributes of the people they cover. When death struck the fraternity, pain was written everywhere.
Koobonye Ramokopelwa
In early April, the nation woke up to the painful report of the Molepolole-born 39-year-old former Botswana Guardian/The Midweek Sun Business Editor Koobonye Ramokopelwa’s passing. The sun had indeed set.
He was a highly respected and influential Business Editor who was known for his insightful business journalism, storytelling and his vibrant personality. His passing followed a short illness that robbed the fraternity of a giant and dedicated Business journalist. Ramokopelwa needs no introduction as he has worked his way through the profession, especially in a specialised area of writing business and financial stories, amongst others. His former colleagues praised him for his deeper understanding of economic trends, corporate affairs and market shifts. The fraternity was united in ensuring that he was gifted a decent send-off.
Lebogang Mosikare
Just like Ramokopelwa, the 42-year-old Lebogang Mosikare, who hailed from Matsiloje village, breathed his last in April, ending an illustrious career in journalism. The family of Mmegi/The Monitor newspapers was shocked when their colleague, who had also succumbed to a short illness, met his maker just like that. With so many monikers that included Tsoo, Law, Festival and others, the Area-W (Dablaas) resident was a skilled court and political writer in particular. In fact, Tsoo was a well-rounded writer who fitted in all the newsroom beats like a hand to a glove. He was very argumentative out there, albeit his love for the craft was amazing. He had his unique way of telling his stories. In the short period, he was morbid, he was in and out of the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital and its sister Jubilee Hospital. Whilst he had a proclivity for breaking scandalous stories from the two hospitals, now he had become a resident of the health facilities.
Just when everybody was convinced that the prolific journo was on a clear path to recovery, he succumbed to the illness that had come heavy on him, depriving him of a chance to fully recover. No sweeter words could be found to tell the story of this fallen journo better than the tears that fell down the cheeks of his distraught comrades and family members.
Mpho Kuhlman
Tragedy struck the media again when Sunday Standard award-winning journalist, Mpho Kuhlman, succumbed to a short illness in October. This was one of the worst moments for the industry that is fond of writing tributes to members of society. Tables were indeed turned as the tributes were now reported from the other side.
Media reports describe Kuhlman as one of the analytical and inventive voices. Sunday Standard reported that, “Kuhlman’s career had spanned half a decade during which she built a reputation as an incisive, fearless journalist, a sharp social commentator and a passionate advocate for liberty of thought and conscience.”
Sunday Standard further reported that hardly two years as a reporter, her work earned her multiple awards, amongst them the Best reporter on HIV/AIDS, beating some of the most seasoned journalists in the country with more than five years, it was painful to the fraternity losing such a promising writer with a long list of accomplishments already.
Godfrey Mpuse
Another award-winning State-owned photojournalist, Godfrey Mpuse, breathed his last in the month of November, completing the worrying quartet that has departed this year. It seems death was on an accelerated trajectory
He was a respected veteran lensman who had amassed awards from various competitions, including the prestigious SADC Media Award. He was celebrated for his exceptional photography and as part of the presidential photographers for the longest time in his career. Mpuse was also given a fitting send-off by his colleagues and the society that he served diligently. He also passed after a short illness, literally dying with his boots on. The best that should happen to the journalism community is to brace for the forthcoming year with all its challenges and possible accomplishments.
Boko attacks
Finally, the colleagues are resting whilst the fraternity never rests from the incessant attacks and condemnations from the State President Duma Boko, who has exhibited the proclivity of disparaging members of the Fourth Estate. The President takes advantage of any platform where he knows the press will not have a chance to respond to his remarks. Dear departed quartet, we rarely rest as practitioners in this Boko-led government, as we are battered day in and day out. As our archangels, we pray that you pray for us so that, as a tool of democracy, we should enjoy the liberty to enrich the country’s democracy without Boko calling us all sorts of names. Already, you know that according to the country’s First Citizen, stories we write are ‘90% fake’. What is fake here can only be the President’s statistics, as this does not even make sense. The President cannot define who the Fourth Estate is. At best, his posture is of a man hell-bent on assaulting the practitioners, which is a threat to democracy itself.
We can only pray that, as our departed heroes and heroines, you join other pioneers of the industry who long departed before you, in the likes of Rampholo Molefhe, Joel Sebonego, Mike Mothibi, Masupu Rakabane, Linchwe Kgaswe, Augustine Mathumo, Clara Olsen, Beata Kasale, Sekgopi Tshite, Marcos Matebele, Steve Molebatsi, Charles Simukoko, Kelvin Mulenga, Peter Maphangela, Phillip Moshotle, Kopano Rammekwa and James Motlhabane. Please form a prayer group and pray for the local industry, as it’s literally under siege from the ruling elite. Till we meet again, departed colleagues, remain prayerful.