Death Has Lost The Battle

Dumi Mmualefe | Monday August 4, 2014 17:43

With the kisses let me remove your tars,

The ravening clouds shall not be long victorious,

They shall not long possess the sky (Walt Whitman)

“Death has lost the battle! Death o, death where is your victory? Where is your sting?” (1 Cor.15:54, 55). Indeed there is nothing as uncertain as one’s time of death, at the same time, nothing is more certain than death. This is the most difficult time for the Motswaledi family, for his friends, colleagues, Bakaulengwe and indeed for the nation of Botswana.

The state of shock engulfing this nation is of a magnitude not experienced in recent history.

 I want to cry. I need to cry, but tears refuse to roll down my cheeks.

I have tried. I retreated at the scene, stood by the culvert and tried to force a cry- to no avail. My grief manifest in bodily pain, but I will sure visit a counsellor, for if I do not cry, I will die!

This is the same situation many are experiencing but unfortunately do not know its repercussions. Do get help before it is too late. I will have done that by the time you read this offering. I pray for this nation for I know it is a hurting nation.

I pray for this nation because I know what can happen when there are lots of fears and doubts at a time like this. I pray that sooner, rather than later, we all have the answers to our uncertainties. For it is only then that we will earnestly start mourning the transition of this giant of our soil.

Gomolemo is my brother, not my friend, from the eighties. I remember in the nineties when we called each other, “that man!” I remember the travels we went on locally and internationally on church youth activities.

I remember the day we sat under a hardly two meter tall tree in front of his room at the University of Botswana with Abel “Mortal” Bogatsu as we talked about this dream that he had of forming a formidable choir that will unearth talent in this beloved country.

This project was to later become the celebrated KTM Choir.

Yes I remember this Tirelo Setshaba, tall and lean boy who conducted a Community Junior Secondary School choir at the National Eisteddfod Competition in Mahalapye.

Memories of him hoisted up and celebrated by the audience after clinching the championship are still vivid in my mind! I remember the long days and night we would talk, sing and laugh endlessly when we shared my flat at Diswiitsing!

 I remember the morning we woke up to find my car sprinkled with what looked and smelled like human faeces and blood and how we laughed off the whole thing and washed it.

Gomolemo is a champion. He was a resolute champion of faith. He was a spiritual person who never forgot what the Lord required of him