Fare thee well Thuso 'Thusoski' 'Mthuzonkana' Letlhoma
Friday, June 05, 2020
Growing up I listened to Thusoski on radio and for one second didn’t even anticipate that I would ever share the stage with him, as I had no ambitions for radio broadcasting. But as fate would have it, I ended up sharing the stage with him and I learnt a lot from the gentle giant that guided me as a newbie. I joined Radio Botswana as a fresh graduate in 2005. And in the newsroom I found heavyweights – the likes of Thuso Letlhoma, Mmoloki Mothibi, Sakaeyo Jannie, Sakaeyo Baitshepi, Kesaobaka Keoreng, Thato Lijane-Tlhomelang, Gladys Ramadi, Keitirele Mathape amongst others. I formed a bond with almost all the men in the team as I was a keen sportsperson and we would always argue about football. I ended up being thrown into the deep end to do the sports segments in Letlhoma and Mothibi’s Masa-A-Sele show. It was nerve-wrecking, but Thusoski and Smallboy (Mothibi) made me very comfortable, as I was new to radio and was afraid I would make mistakes. Thusoski would always say “Monna bua hela jaaka okare o tlotlela nna”.
After sometime I got comfortable and enjoyed my radio stint. All the while we would joke and laugh our lungs out when he did his ‘Peretshitswana’ section. At times we would get into trouble for it, as we would often get carried away, but in a decent way. I will never forget the infamous ‘Sax – e monate mo mosong day’ that nearly got him fired and me shipped immediately to Francistown. Our intended humour had caught up with us and gotten us into trouble, and instead of worrying about himself, he was more concerned for me, and having to answer a million questions about what we had said on radio. After we got off the hook, we laughed over it and every time we met, he would just pick up that laugh off where we left it and remind me how I nearly wet my pants when I asked what we had said on air.
March 28 will go down as a day that Batswana will never forget because of the accident that occurred near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa. The tragedy affected not only the grieving families but the nation at large. Batswana throughout the process stood behind the grieving families and the governments of Botswana and South Africa need much more than a pat on the back.Last Saturday was a day when family members said their last goodbyes to...