Go well 'Mma-Nshaks'

RYDER GABATHUSE
Staff Writer | Friday November 26, 2010 00:00

 

Her family members and former colleagues say she was a good person. Indeed, by all accounts, Mma-Nshaks, as she was affectionately known, was cheerful, good natured and merry.

In her last days, a coffee shop at the Galo mall, known as Mimi, was literally her second home. She was always there enjoying a variety of local newspapers, coffee and snacks, in the company of her eldest child and only daughter, Boikhutso Nshakazhogwe Masunga and often with her husband, Sam Masunga.

By her own admission, Mma-Nshaks was an avid reader of Mmegi newspaper and its sister publication The Monitor.

It had never dawned on me that one day I would be giving an account of the life of some eminent person like Nshakazhogwe whose sobriquet 'Mma-Nshaks' had become even more popular than her real name.

Writing an obituary of someone you have known for 16 years can be intimidating and painful.

After meeting her as an active trade unionist in 1994, we attended a short course on 'Negotiating skills and Industrial Bargaining' and 'Discipline and the Law' conducted by the law firm, Andrew Briscoe, at the Marang Hotel two years later.

We called each other 'classmates' on the basis that together with other trade unionists, we attended the two-day course.

I attended the course through a nomination by the Botswana Bank Employees Union (BOBEU) whilst Mma-Nshaks was from Botswana Telecommunications Union (BOTEU).

'Mma-Nshaks' is the former deputy mayor of the city of Francistown where she had served 10 years as a councillor.

Until 2003, she was married to Nshakazhogwe village chief Norman Nkwebi Nshakazhogwe who died seven years ago.

Last week when she died, she was 57, the same age that her husband succumbed to ill health.

The news of the death of my former 'classmate' came as a shock last Friday, despite that she was no longer in good health. It was just another busy day, when Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) interim secretary, Sam Masunga spoiled my day with the sad news.

As if he had difficulties breaking the sad news, he said: 'Hey, there is a problem, kana Mma-Nshaks is gone.'

As Masunga himself was still caught up in a thick political battle in which some sections of the media accused him to be on the verge of making an about turn to his former party, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which he vehemently denied, I thought he was breaking another defection story in an alleged series of BMD/BDP defections.

Because of the ambiguity of his statement, I demanded clarity. 'Mma-Nshaks is no more,' he shouted and emphasised in the vernacular: 'O re tlogetse!'

From May this year after the formation of the BDP splinter party, BMD, it has never been any clearer whether Mma-Nshaks, who was previously a member of the BDP faction known as Barata-Phathi had joined the new party or remained at her old political home.

Officially, she was BDP, whilst BMD members still associated her with their party.

The deceased's eldest child and daughter, Nshakazhogwe-Masunga would later remove doubts that indeed her mother breathed her last at the Bokamoso Hospital where she was referred by the private Tati River Hospital for dialysis.

'We left on Tuesday this week through a Med Rescue flight accompanying my mother whose condition, in my view, was not really critical, but she was concerned about her deteriorating kidney problem,' narrated Nshakazhogwe-Masunga obviously distraught.

Her mother was incessantly vomiting especially after taking meals. 'The diagnosis was spot on as her kidneys were not functioning properly when she first reported at the Tati River Hospital in Francistown.'

Nshakazhogwe-Masunga says the first day her mother went for dialysis at Bokamoso she seemed okay. But on the second day, she was treated but collapsed before she regained consciousness.

'We were told on the third day that her condition was complicated by the fact that after treatment she collapsed but unfortunately the situation was severe, with her heart reportedly beating abnormally and thereby directly affecting her kidneys.'

Her two younger brothers watched as their mother took her last breath whilst she preferred to hide and pray for her mother's survival, but all in vain.

In Sikhism death is considered a natural process, an event that has absolute certainty and only happens as a direct result of God's Will or Hukam.

Death is only the progression of the soul on its journey from God, through the created universe and back to God again. In life, a Sikh always tries to constantly remember death so that he or she may be sufficiently prayerful, detached and righteous to break the cycle of birth and death and return to God.

Former Francistown deputy mayor and former city councillor, Angelinah Sengalo, who once worked with Nshakazhogwe at the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), describes her as intelligent and a strong-willed character.

'We both served at BTC during its days as Telecommunication and Postal Services. At some stage we were both active in the corporation's trade union as shop Stewarts. She was indeed an advocate for the rights of workers,' reminisced Sengalo.

They also both enjoyed membership of the women's advocacy group, Emang Basadi where the deceased proved her prowess as a champion of the rights of people.

They would later become active members of the ruling BDP and at some stage in their active political career, they both served as deputy mayors of the city of Francistown.In her assessment, she aptly summarises the deceased 's behaviour with an idiom:  'Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.' She describes her former colleague as outspoken mostly on gender related issues and generally human rights issues.

'Even before her activism in party politics, she was vocal as she would encourage women to search for a place in politics. If she thought she was pursuing a just cause, she would remain steadfast in whatever she was doing.'In a way, Sengalo is convinced that Nshakazhogwe was brave, fearless and a goal-getter.

She was also active as a member of the Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics.

'She held many positions at ward level and at some stage she was a member of the BDP central committee sub committee on HIV/AIDS,' concluded Sengalo.

Reminiscing about their days in the FCC chambers, former councillor and ex-mayor, Motlatsi Molapise describes the deceased as 'an intelligent councillor whose debating of motions and questions depicted a character whose grasp of issues was not in doubt.'

In his view, the deceased dealt with council business on its merits as her judgement of council business was not influenced by partisan politics.

'She was focused and understood procedures of the council and she generally possessed good qualities as a councillor. We had so many councillors who were weak, but she was not one of them.'

Above all, Molapise was impressed that during their interaction at the FCC, she found Nshakazhogwe to be an independent-minded politician who valued the electorates so much.

'I will still say these things about her if I was invited to speak at her party or something because that is how she was,' insisted Molapise.

BDP's Francistown regional chairman, Botho Ntirang describes Nshakazhogwe as a supportive and responsible politician.

'Of late, she had not been active as a politician due to ill-health. But, she used to be a very active character when we were building party structures in Francistown where I used to reside,' said Ntirang.Her four children and four grand children survive Nshakazhogwe. Her biological father John Pikinini from Makobo also survives her.