The request, in my view, was abnormal. Abnormal because his funeral programme, in my judgement, was not his issue, but a matter for his family. However, I confirmed that I would be willing to be one of the speakers. After accepting the request, he then issued an instruction. “My boy, your address should not last more than 3 minutes,” an instruction I promised to uphold and have no intention of disregarding today. I first got to know Comrade GW when I was a member of the Botswana National Front Youth League (BNFYL) in the early 1990s. At the time, he was a respected party elder who attended all key party meetings. I knew he resided in “Tshaba Ntsa” amongst the BDP loyalists and like some of my comrades, I did not understand how he justified his loyalty to the BNF, a leftist organisation led by a hard-core Communist.
I got to work closely with GW in 1998 after the formation of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). One of the first assignments that we worked on together was the BCP report to the Ombudsman about the then vice president, piloting of Botswana Defence Force (BDF) planes. Together with some party members, we presented the final draft letter to the Ombudsman for GW and some elders to edit. When the draft had been approved, GW quipped lightly, “Kana bana baga Seretse, bana le go akanya gore dilo tse ke tsa bone.”
