Family, Khama Clash Over Masire State Funeral
Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday June 26, 2017 18:00
In an exclusive interview with The Monitor, Mogae said the family had suggested July 1, which is a Saturday, as the date for the State Funeral, but President Ian Khama told them that he will be unavailable on the date they suggested because he will be away, attending the Race-For-Rhinos event at Makgadikgadi Pans.
Mogae said Khama made a counter-suggestion of Monday, July 3 (which has been declared a holiday because Sir Seretse Khama Day - July 1 - falls on a weekend), but there was no consensus and Thursday was the compromise date.
Speaking to The Monitor at Swaneng Hill School in Serowe after delivering a moving eulogy of Patrick van Rensburg, Mogae said, “The family suggested for Saturday. I also assumed it was going to be Saturday, but they came back to me saying the President [Khama] requested for Monday, but they ended up agreeing on Thursday.”
When queried on why Khama was not happy with Masire State Funeral being on a Saturday, Mogae was unsure where or what exactly his successor will be up to on the suggested Saturday.
He said, “Gatwe a re o ta bo a le ko methabeng kwa, a irang jaana (gesturing motorcycle revving) a bo a wina,” (They said he would be at the sands where he plays with motorcycles and wins).
Mogae added: “He [Khama] said he had long invited the international guests from far out and could not miss the event”.
Although Mogae was unsure what this event is that the President could not miss for the world, The Monitor has learnt that Khama will be attending the annual Race- For-Rhinos event scheduled for June 29 to July 2 near Nata at the Makgadikgadi Pans.
Race-For-Rhinos is an exciting international adventure aviation event that sees pilots from around the world racing in the Makgadikgadi Pans skies for over three days. Khama, being an avid aviation fanatic and pilot, has never missed the event and this time even Masire’s death cannot block him from the entertaining airshow spectacle.
Last year, Khama rushed through the Sir Seretse Khama Day commemorations programme at the Serowe Kgotla before dashing to the Makgadikgadi Pans to join his fellow aviation fanatics for the 2016 Race-For-Rhinos display.
Meanwhile, former President, Mogae who is the Chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) of the Peace Agreement on South Sudan said he cancelled his international trip to accommodate the funeral day.
Mogae showed some discomfort with the Thursday date of the State Funeral, saying he was hoping for a weekend.
“I had naturally assumed that it was going to be Saturday. So I had planned my [JMEC] travels around the date. So, after I heard of the confirmed date, I had no choice but to reschedule,” he said. On the question of UB Stadium being the right venue to host a memorial service of Masire’s stature, Mogae believes the venue is fine saying, “If it is the UB Stadium that is normally used to host graduations, then it is good enough.”
However, on Saturday government announced further changes to the venue of Memorial Service, swapping UB Stadium for an even smaller capacity UB Indoor Arena, apparently because of the fears of bad weather. Mogae also revealed that it was Masire’s daughter, Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba who broke the sad news to him on Thursday. He however refused to comment on Khama’s no show in leading the consoling of the nation on the loss of its beloved leader. Khama did not address the nation through either the state broadcaster Btv or radios after the death announcement of Masire. The President chose to only send a message to the nation via Facebook at 9:30am on Friday, 11 hours after the death announcement.
The President later sent his Private Secretary, Brigadier George Tlhalerwa to address the nation and deliver the message of condolence. Family spokesperson, Fraiser Thoiwe directed all the questions to government spokesperson, Jeff Ramsay “because the State Funeral is conducted by the government”. Ramsay however said he was not privy to the details of the initial discussions between the family and government about the State Funeral.
Asked whether he was aware of the clash of dates between family and Khama, Ramsay said, “I am not aware of that. That’s not the story I have. All I know is that there were discussions between government and family and the date was decided.” Masire died on June 22 at Bokamoso Private Hospital in Mmopane. His State Funeral will be on Thursday, June 29, at Motebejane Ward in Kanye. There have been widespread concerns on why the government decided to bury its last Knight and long-serving leader on an inconvenient day in the middle of the week.