Speaking to The Monitor team yesterday, the family spokesperson and niece, Kelebogile Letsoge, said Dr Chiepe passed on Sunday at around 8am. She was 102. “She was the last surviving sibling in the family tree, well, up until yesterday (Sunday). She died peacefully in her home,” Letsoge said. According to the family, there will be daily prayers starting today at the home in Gaborone and a memorial service will be hosted on Friday at her church, UCCSA Trinity. She will then be laid to rest on Saturday at the Phomolong Cemetery in Phakalane, Gaborone. Dr Chiepe, who was born on October 20, 1922, distinguished herself as an educator, administrator, diplomat, and politician.
An accomplished woman of many firsts, she was the first Motswana woman to earn a college degree and, subsequently, a postgraduate degree. She was Botswana’s first Director of Education, one of the first two female Members of Parliament (along with Kebatshabile Lorato Disele), and Cabinet Minister. In 1970, she was the only woman from either Africa or the Commonwealth to be the head of a diplomatic mission in London, UK. In 1939, she attended Tiger Kloof on a government bursary. In 1944, she attended Fort Hare College, where, in 1947, she was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Botany and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. In 1958, she graduated from the University of Bristol in the UK with a master's degree.
