Air Botswana

Sandy Grant | Wednesday October 28, 2015 14:54

 

Most of the information provided is, whilst of interest, of little relevance to us here. The value lies in the last sentence which states that Gibson, in the 1960s, founded first the Bechuanaland National Airways and then the Botswana National Airways. 

In order to establish some degree of validity for that claim, it was necessary for me to reproduce the entire obituary. To do so without being able to provide the basic information about the obituary such as the name of the newspaper (the Telegraph, I suspect) and the date, would have been too thin to be taken seriously.

But what prompts me to make the airline my heritage topic this week is The Monitor’s reference to the unsolved killing in 2013 of Marco Mpatane who was an Air Botswana flight attendant. (26.10.15) Any history of the airline would need to mention that particular tragedy but it would also need to refer to another unsolved killing – that of the expatriate, British I suspect, who was employed by Air Botswana and killed, perhaps 15 years ago, whilst working in his office.

That particular murder has long stuck in my mind partly because it seemed so extraordinary and partly because there appeared to have been no follow up. Of course, there is need for care. Perhaps, I missed the relevant reports of the arrest and trial of the alleged killer. Perhaps the few newspapers failed to cover the story, perhaps this, perhaps that. And then there was the killing of Ernest who worked for British Airways in Gaborone. I have long forgotten his surname but I have not forgotten his kindness, friendliness and charm. 

It was said at the time, whisper, whisper, that he had been involved with diamond trafficking and was quite simply eliminated. Perhaps I missed the newspaper reports of the arrest and subsequent trial of his alleged killer or killers. Perhaps this, perhaps that.  But whilst recognising that none of us can remember everything, these killings do make me wonder why Air Botswana happens to have been so unfortunate? It also makes me deeply concerned, yet again, that if the police are unable to make any headway in their investigations, nothing further or even nothing at all, is officially said. 

We may speculate about the significant number of people who have been killed in the past, whether accidentally or deliberately, about whom no meaningful information has ever been officially released.  If we had a coroner system, we might at least have known something about Marcos Mpatane and even, perhaps Segametsi. We have had important legal initiatives – the Industrial Court and the Small Claims Court. Why are we coroner resistant?