He said, 'Oh ha ne modimo o ka ne o boditse gore ke tsee mang, re ka bo re rile "nnyaa e seng yoo, tsaa mongwe wa bo-magaolwane ba gagwe ba'. (Oh! If God had asked whom he should take, we would have told him to take one of his acolytes)," says Bernard Letsididi, a 77-year-old former footballer who played under the tutelage of Botswana's first president Sir Seretse Khama.The son of Sekgoma Khama, the paramount chief of Bangwato, Seretse became Kgosi at the age of four after his father's death in 1925. Because he was still young, his uncle, Kgosi Tshekedi Khama, became his guardian and regent of Bangwato.
Raised in Serowe by his strict uncle, Seretse was very close to his only sister, Naledi. Speaking in an interview with Mmegi last weekend, 85-year-old Naledi Khama reveals that Seretse Khama was a passionate sportsman who played football. After playing for a long-time as a goal keeper at the then Serowe based Motherwell, Seretse in 1960 grouped his Malekantwa regiment and founded the renowned Miscellaneous Football Club, which now plays top flight football in the be Mobile Premier League."He grew up very close to his cousins Serogola Lekhutile, Lenyeletse Seretse and Dikgakgamatso Kebailele," she says.
