Remembering the controversial Merafhe
Chakalisa Dube | Thursday January 8, 2015 13:30
However, throughout his political career, which spanned 25 years, Merafhe came across as a controversial figure. Merafhe left politics both as a loathed and admired figure for his proclamations.
The departed general will remain one of the most controversial and outspoken figures of Botswana politics.
In his element, he had a sharp tongue that often left many shaking in their boots. At one point, Dumelang Saleshando president of Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the former Gaborone Central Member of Parliament conceded that Merafhe’s militancy and tongue during debates made him a feared character in Parliament. Saleshando often had tussles with Merafhe during parliamentary proceedings. He remembers that at one point Merafhe turned him into a laughing stock in Parliament during a heated debate. Saleshando wanted the electoral process to be reviewed and he favoured the model of proportional representaion.
“ I do not remember well exactly what Merafhe said, but it was something very funny which made everyone laugh in the house,” he said.
The former Foreign Affairs Minister had the potential to explode even at his party colleagues or those close to him whenever he felt there was a need.
In May 2011 when addressing a rally in his constituency, he accused unmentioned individuals in his party of wishing him dead and dared them to take his constituency.
A few months later, in November 2011, when officiating at a Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) event in Mahalapye he lashed out at a Botswana Television reporter. “You have a tendency of just focusing on me and leaving other people out of the picture. What is so interesting about me and my face that you have to show it all the time and not show all these other people’s faces?” Merafhe asked, prompting the crowd to burst out in laughter.
In the formative years of President Ian Khama’s controversial presidency, he turned into the leader’s attack dog telling-off everyone who questioned Khama’s presidency. He labelled those who questioned Khama’s citizenship as mere lunatics. “Whoever thinks that the son of Seretse Khama, the founding father of this nation could possibly be a foreigner, must be subjected to psychiatric examination so that we know the type of people we are dealing with,” he said.
But the most controversial moment was when he defended the state and the president following the death of John Kalafatis, who was gunned down by the country’s security operatives. “One or two shootings cannot destroy the image of the country-our image is not that fragile,” he said, when asked if John Kalafatis’s extra judicial killings would not tarnish the country’s image.
In one of the most notable incidents Merafhe surprised many when in May 2011, a few days after emerging from his sickbed, he immersed in the civil service strike, defending president Khama and government. During a Kgotla meeting in Mahalapye, Merafhe said workers who had put their tools down would face the music.