I first heard of Mgxashe when I read a copy of the Botswana Guardian in 1984 while I was a student at St Joseph's College. Within a year, he was deported from Botswana for reporting on the South African Defence Force commando raid on Gaborone. At the time, I thought he was lost forever on my radar and in the years that followed, I missed his bulldog approach to reporting news. During my years in Cape Town, we met through the intervention of Moeng Pheto at his residence during the independence celebrations in 2001. Ironically, we had both lived on the same street for a year and had not come to discover each other. From here on, I became a frequent visitor at No. 38 Gie Street. At the time, he was working on his first book and for that reason he spent most of his days at home. On my way home I would occasionally make a rendezvous at the Mgxashe's homestead, and the good cook that he was, "Bra Ace" would offer me a steaming beef stew, just the right thing for the cold Cape Town weather.
In one of our conversations, I posted two questions to him regarding the reasons he came to Botswana and why he was deported. He told me that he had just heard of Botswana's upcoming independence in 1966 and he desired to be in an African country free of white rule. According to him, he arrived in Francistown as a 20-year old 16 days before Independence Day. He said he has never come to regret the decision to begin his life in exile here because this is where he came to meet the love of his life. At that age, he had just been released from the notorious political penitentiary of Robben Island where he did time with world icon Nelson Mandela. According to Mgxashe, he was declared a prohibited person in Botswana for reporting on the SADF raid of June 14, 1985. "At this raid, Botswana Defence Force soldiers were reduced to boy scouts because they had failed to take heed of the intelligence information that filtered through and Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe was arrogantly defensive on this issue of failure to perform by his forces," he said.Like many other liberation struggle icons, he continued to visit Botswana at will after 1994. Botswana was aware of these frequent visits but the authorities were not in a position to embarrass themselves diplomatically because most of the people they PI'd are now running the government in South Africa and they just turned a blind eye to our presence in their country, said Mgxashe. During one of the visits, he said he went to see Daniel Kwelagobe at his Molepolole home to make his presence felt and that they were now in charge. Rest in Peace Bra Ace! Lala ngoxolo Qhinebe!
