Sunday after church I was driving down Molepolole Road with Bishop Emeritus Raphael Habibo of the Assemblies of God as he postulated to me that it was time the church came together to conduct a national prayer. He told me that this is in view of the current affairs of our country.
I could not agree more with him as he made this in reference to the current spate of human disappearances becoming so prevalent in Botswana. As he is a well-informed man, he was directing me to a story of a young man who was apparently found dead near Kgale this weekend.
This is a man who has been in the ministry for almost fifty years and according to him, the situation has never been this bad. Batswana generally abhor these practices where human beings are killed and their body parts used for ritual purposes. But it seems things have taken a different twist now.
In 2002 I was studying in Cape Town and one of my relatives called me to inform me that she was housing a family from Serowe that came looking for their loved one. The Motswaledi family had had one of their sons disappearing after the Easter church gathering held at a place called Zuurbekom (now referred to as Silo) where the International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) was meeting.
Apparently the young man had come with members of the Serowe branch but could not be located at the end of the Easter event. So the family took it upon themselves to embark on a trip from Serowe to search for the young lad. This is how I came to know about their presence there through a family member who acted as a Good Samaritan.
After speaking to a family member who was leading the search party, I was touched and also disappointed at the attitude of the church as they did not seem keen to help the family. I immediately contacted Mxholisi Mgxashe who was a journalist with the Cape Argus newspaper. This was a man who had worked as a journalist for Botswana Guardian at the time he was exiled to Botswana.
To my utter disappointment, Mgxashe told me that even if he writes the story, it will not pass the editor’s desk. He told me that people go missing every day in South Africa to a point where it did not constitute news anymore. Fortunately for the Motswaledi family, the story had a happy ending as their son was found hospitalised at Leratong Hospital in Krugersdorp.
I had wanted the story in the paper to exert pressure on the church that was seemingly preferring to adopt a laiser-fare approach on such a serious matter. Habibo rightly points out that the church should in our case act as the situation is getting out of control.
Riotous behaviour in Botswana has always been associated with issues of missing persons. I may be wrong but these issues always arise from the peripheries of Gaborone the capital of Botswana. In 1976, two children were reported missing in Gaborone and were later found dead and dumped at Gaborone Dam. The public erupted in anger. Still subject to correction, this was the last time more than one person was convicted and hanged for ritual killings.
The next prominent disappearance was that of a five year old girl known as Malebogo. The youths of Gaborone descended upon Bontleng and destroyed property where it was believed the child kidnappers were hiding here. All hell broke loose as the police were running battles with the youths every day.
As this became an everyday entertainment for young people in Gaborone then, President Masire ordered the military to move in and shoot anyone on site whom they may have reasonable grounds to suspect that they were participating in this riot. Immediately the crowds dispersed and peace and order was restored. By this time, Malebogo had been found at a Broadhurst house and reunited with her family.
The one incident that topped the charts was the slaying of Segametsi Mogomotsi in 1994 in Mochudi. Her body was found brutalised with missing organs. It was the students at her school that ignited the rioting and the wildfire spread to Gaborone and the surrounding areas. This also became some sort of every evening entertainment for the youths. Soldiers that had just returned from a Peacekeeping Mission in Mozambique brought order and peace.
The current rate of unemployment is worrying when associated with the current ritual murders and human disappearances. It is the youth who have always been in the forefront and when so many of them have so much idle time, this is an incendiary situation for our nation and the government should be concerned about this situation.
The church as a peace institution should lead the way in averting the possible catastrophe if the trend of killings and disappearances are not halted. Government should be seen to participate to enhance the efforts of the church. In fact, the combined effort of church and state should bring an end to this problem.
The demand for human organs is growing around the world and as members of the global village; we are definitely going to be affected. There is certainly an under hand in what is happening in this country. Law enforcement agencies need to put more resources in this area to deal with this particular crime.
It is not always a good experience to have one of the family members going missing. I personally have experienced and ordeal with my family where my elder sister disappeared in 1976 and was only found in the year 2000. I was a traumatic and agonizing twenty-four years for our family. In as much as our story had a happy ending, other families must be afforded the same with the assistance of government.
The murders have also been too many. Three hundred in three months as according to Botswana Gazette newspaper is way too high for a population of less than three million, this is indeed a catastrophe and we all need to act as a nation.
Richard Moleofe [email protected]
