Jokes ease the pain at Merafhe�s funeral

Former cabinet minister and senior government official Olebile Gaborone left the audience in stitches when he described how the founding commander of the Botswana Defence Force once jokingly frightened one of his herdsmen at his cattlepost in Mmamabula.

“Just out of the blues Merafhe threatened to beat one of my herdsmen beyond recognition, to a point that hospital officials will shun assisting him. When I arrived at the cattlepost my terrified herdsman who did not know what he has done narrated the story to me. “He initially thought that Merafhe was serious.  I had to assure him that Merafhe was joking because apart from old age the General would not hurt a fly. That was his way of doing things as he joked over everything,” said Gaborone, who was Merafhe’s neighbour at the cattlepost.