The sad news of his death was broken to the nation on Wednesday morning. A family spokesperson, Brigadier (retired) Thulaganyo Masisi said his brother, who had suffered a stroke died, at the Bokamoso Private Hospital on Wednesday morning. Masisi had earlier been flown to the Muelbaard Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa for an operation before he was flown back to Bokamoso Private Hospital, outside Gaborone, where he succumbed to the stroke.I first met Masisi in 1994 in Francistown whilst he was a businessman running a pharmacy, before he closed shop for reasons unknown to me. A former primary school teacher, he was once nominated councillor to the Francistown City Council (FCC).Whilst his pharmacy sold modern medicine, it also sold traditional herbs. It was a popular haunt for monepenepe connoisseurs who would from time to time pop in for a sip.
The herb reportedly cured those plagued by venereal diseases like gonorrhea (rasephiphi) which plagued the sexually active in those days, but it seems to have faded into obscurity thanks to the advent of HIV/AIDS which has now taken centre stage. Against all odds, Masisi, at 62 years was an indefatigable fighter. A go-getter and independent thinker who never shied away from pursuing any matter close to his heart. He defied members of the Barata-Phathi faction of the BDP who left the BDP to form the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). As a member of the Barata-Phathi faction, it was strongly believed that he would follow his factional colleagues, but he never did.To me, he was a politician at heart. His death has robbed some of us of political action in the ongoing ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) vetting process ahead of the November Bulela Ditswe primaries.
