Icons of Botswana

Lawrence Diphetogo Lekalake was born on November 19, 1931 in Kuruman, South Africa. He is one of four children born to his father Kebopetswekgosi Gray Lekalake and his wife Elizabeth. Gray was the third son of Reverend Maphakela and Phemelo Lekalake, both originally Batswana who, because of their involvement in the London Missionary Society (LMS) had moved from Botswana to South Africa. Lekalake was born into a struggling world. He was brought up by his grandfather and his mother. This was so because his father died prematurely at the early age of 32.

Moving to his education, Lekakalake first entered a classroom in 1937 at 6 years of age at Central Primary School in Bothithong and completed there in 1947. In 1948 he entered Secondary at Tigerkloof Technical High School where he completed Junior Certificate in 1950 and Senior Certificate in 1952, obtaining training which qualified him to go to university.