In the afternoon of November 20, I unexpectedly met with His Excellency Ambassador Molosiwa Selepeng at a colourful high profile wedding of attorney Kago Mokotedi and Dr.Wame Badirwang in Mochudi. Kago Mokotedi is a well-known Gaborone based attorney and a political activist. His wife is a medical doctor at Nyangabgwe Hospital in Francistown. For professional reasons, she will continue keeping her maiden surname for a while or even forever. This is what professionals, musicians, television or radio personalities often do.
Ours was a happy reunion since the former Permanent Secretary to the President, head of the public service and secretary to the Cabinet was appointed Ambassador to Australia. At the wedding, we were on the opposite side. He was on the bride’s side and I was on the groom’s camp. In other words, they were our in-laws. We embraced each other as soon as we met. I was overwhelmed with joy. He told me he has been aware through my contribution in the Sunday Standard newspaper that I am still alive and kicking. I told him that I am keeping myself busy by writing opinion articles. He encouraged me to continue and that he enjoys my articles. Meeting him made me think of a lot of things about him.
The first thing that came to my mind was the 1989 bid by the Frontline States of Botswana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola to sponsor someone from the area to become the Secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Frontline States had suggested Salim Salim as their candidate. On June of that year, President Sir Ketumiele Masire embarked on a 15-day tour of several areas in the United States. I was there as a journalist and Selepeng was one of the three permanent secretaries accompanying the president in the trip. Sir Ketumile addressed meetings in Washington DC, Chicago, New York and at Ohio’s three cities of, Athens, Cleaveland and Columbus.
Other meetings were at the Pentagon, State Department and the White House. While in Washington, Sir Ketumile addressed a meeting of African ambassadors. During the meeting, Ambassador of Niger qurried the intention of the Frontline States of sponsoring Salim Salim for the position of the secretary-general of the OAU while the incumbent had shown his wish to run for the second term. The incumbent secretary-general turned out to be the ambassador’s country man. I don’t remember the exact wording of Sir Ketumile’s response but it was something like “we are not stopping anybody from contesting. Let the current secretary-general compete with our candidate if he wishes. We will accept the outcome of that election”.
The OAU had not had an effective secretary-general since Diallo Telli of Guinea. Cameroon’s Nzo Ekangaki had come in as a compromise and he tried his best but was not as effective as Diallo Telli. Ekangaki is the one who opened the 1974 Gaborone Trade Fair at the invitation of Sir Seretse Khama. The rest did not please several OAU member states. On our return from the United States, I sat down with Selepeng in his office in order for me to understand the workings of the OAU secretariat and the chairmanship. I was thoroughly briefed. I left his office knowing that the election of the secretary-general was not based on regionalism like that of the chairmanship. I learnt that, that election was based on competency.
I learnt that ever since the establishment of the organization, nobody from Southern Africa had ever been elected to the position of secretary-general as if nobody from the region was competent for the position. So it was time for Southern Africa to tell the Continent that it too had competent people to feel the post of secretary-general of the OAU. Salim Salim had been Tanzania’s ambassador to the United Nations. While there he became the Chairman of the organization’s Decolonization Committee. He ran for the position of the UN Secretary-General only. He had the support of member states except the United States which used its power of veto to prevent him winning. The US had a preferred candidate whom China vetoed in retaliation. You can see that Frontline States had a very powerful candidate. Masire had strongly campaigned for him. Following that thorough briefing by Selepeng, BOPA who were my employers wrote one of their best and hard hitting commentary marketing Salim Salim. It was telexed to the Pan Africanist News Agency (PANA) for them to transmit it to the rest of Africa.
However, for news agencies in Southern Africa like ZIANA in Zimbabwe, Angop in Angola, ZANA in Zambia, SHIHATA in Tanzania, AIM in Mozambique, BOPA telexed them directly. The agency went an extra-mile by telexing that commentary to SAPA in South Africa as well. It was a solid commentary ending with the words, “the views expressed in this commentary are not necessarily those of the Botswana Government.”
When the head of state and government of the OAU assembled for the July summit, Salim Salim won with flying colours. That was partly why Salim Salim attended the funeral of Sir Ketumile in Kanye. He came here to pay homage to the man who had worked so hard to ensure he was elected the OAU Secretary-General. While Masire worked openly to campaign for Salim Salim, Selepeng’s behind the scenes contribution was equally wonderful. In the seventies, Africa had a dictator called Idi Amin in Uganda. His country had one of the best universities in the Continent. In fact, Makerere University was the cream of Africa. Anybody who had been a student there was envied all over the world.
In the 70s when Idi Amin was butchering people in Uganda, Botswana had three students , namely, Dr Mompati, Freddie Modise and Joshua Galeforwe. This part of Selepng story was told to me during our spare time in Washington DC by Dr Mompati during that 1985 hectic tour of the US. Dr. Mompati was Sir Ketumile’s physician. He narrated this story in admiration of Selepeng. His version of events in Uganda under Idi Amin was frightening. People, locals and foreigners disappeared without trace and were murdered day light. The three Botswana students at the Makerere University lived in fear. Out of that fear for their lives, they wrote a letter to Gaborone asking the government to arrange for their immediate transfer from Kampala for their safety.
They requested that their letter should not be replied to because the Amin’s security men would intercept it and that would lend them in troubles which could possibly lead to their demise. The Botswana Government was aware of the many atrocities that were taking place in Uganda. Upon receiving a letter from Makerere, the Government devised a rescue plan which worked wonders. Selepeng was sent to East Africa to rescue Botswana students. How the plan was devised is unclear. What is clear is that, Selepeng landed first in Nairobi, Kenya where he asked authorities to admit the three Batswana students in their universities so that they could complete their studies. That having been secured, Selepeng travelled to Kampala where he met the students. It seems it was during the weekend when it was not busy in the campus. The operation was tricky and risky. Would Selepeng advise the students to take all their belongings from the hostels? What would hostel community say upon seeing the three packing their bags? Perhaps he advised them to take away valuables which would not make them look suspicious. That was a rescue operation which had to succeed at all costs. Failure would land the students in troubles. Selepeng would also be in trouble. Idi Amin’s henchmen did not care whether one was a diplomat or not.
The next thing is what happened after Selepeng had met with the students at campus. Perhaps he advised them to travel to the airport where they would link up with him. If this is what happened, it was fantastic. The next thing, the trio found themselves landing in Nairobi to begin a peaceful life and complete their education. It was mission accomplished. Luckily, the rescue operation took place before the 1974 boycott of the OAU meeting in Kampala, Uganda by Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. The boycott followed Idi Amin’s call on the armed forces of these countries to overthrow their elected governments. That would have spelt disaster for the three students. Amin would have used them as bargaining chips to force the Botswana Government into negotiating their release from the position of weakness. How Selepeng did it so meticulously is beyond the imagination. It was marvelous indeed because it must have been a move that required skill and care.
In the cover page of the book, Lust to Kill: The rise and fall of Idi Amin”, it is stated, “one of bloodiest reigns in history is over. For many years the man they called the Black Hitler ruled over Uganda with unprecedented brutality. Over those years, thousands upon thousands of innocent people have been murdered and tortured by Amin and his henchmen. Then on 11 April 1979, the Ugandan capital of Kampala fell to the liberators and Amin’s reign of terror ended as abruptly and bloody as it had begun”. That was what Botswana nationals, Freddie Modise, Joshua Galeforwe and Dr Mompati feared during their study period at Makerere University in Kampala.
