Had Duma Boko been declared the winner of the 2019 general election on October 24, an elite VIP protection team from the Directorate of Intelligence Services and Security (DISS) would have converged on his palatial house in Tlokweng. It would have been received by a six-man security detail guarding the Umbrella for Democratic Change president round the clock and the formal handover would have been done by a former Botswana Defence Force special forces officer called Patikego Manase.
At that point in time, Manase was as important to Boko as the DISS Director General, Peter Magosi, currently is to President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Alongside five other former special forces soldiers, Manase had been providing close body protection to the UDC leader for two days, beginning on Election Day. It is unclear what role Manase would have played in a Boko presidency but that he (Boko) trusted him well enough to entrust him with his life strongly suggests that he may not have just faded into the background.
Manase (Casper to his friends) is no more, having succumbed to COVID-19. He was buried yesterday in his home village, Mahalapye, where Boko also comes from. Tough as nails, Manase joined the BDF in the same year (1977) that it was formed. Upon completing his basic training, he was posted to Selebi Phikwe where he served until attaining the rank of sergeant. In 1988, he was transferred to the Sir Seretse Khama Barracks where he joined the Special Forces ranks. The instructor for Manase’s Special Forces training was a Special Air Service from the British Army. This training included VIP protection. Upon leaving the army in 2004, Manase held the rank of Lieutenant. In civilian life, he went into business and gave Christianity a full bear hug. The October 23, 2019 gig came while he was still juggling these roles.
Manase was not a public figure but thankfully there is video footage on Facebook that gives him as much spotlight as it does Boko. As chief bodyguard for that day, Manase would have planned the route and made all the security arrangements for Boko’s trip to a polling station at Masa Primary School in the Gaborone Bonnington North constituency that the UDC leader was contesting for. When Boko left Tlokweng for Masa in the morning, his black, vanity-number-plated Mercedes-Benz SUV was sandwiched between two canopied, white Toyota Hilux trucks. In security language, this is called a “two-car drill.” At the wheel of Boko’s own car, was a former commando with extensive training in both defensive and offensive driving. Likewise, both the lead and back-up cars were in hands as capable. All told, Boko was under the protection of four former BDF commandoes and two were on stand-by.
On its Facebook page, Duma FM has a 13-minute video clip that shows the sartorially elegant Boko (suit, tie and pocket square) arriving at the Masa polling station with the four bodyguards. Manase (black jacket, black-an-white check shirt and black designer shades) stays closest to him. The bodyguards escort him as he first goes in the wrong direction, then on being alerted about this, changes course with a 90-degrees turn to saunter towards the classroom being used as a voting room for that day. Meanwhile, a scramble of press photographers, cellphone paparazzi and curious members of the public begins to form around him. Hands open-palmed, Manase makes a top-down chopping motion with outstretched arms as a signal to the flash mob to make a hole for the UDC president and his detail to pass through. He uses his arm to keep journalists a safe distance away as Boko proceeds towards the voting room. During the voting process, the bodyguards stand a little way off but remain close and vigilant enough to perform close-protection magic should any threat pop up. Before Boko steps out, two bodyguards rush forward ahead of him to position themselves just outside the door.
The special protection that Boko was getting on Election Day – and six days thereafter, at the hands of highly trained soldiers and following a fiercely contested election, made some in the security establishment very, very uneasy. Manase had to field a call from a DISS boss, a former colleague at BDF, who remonstrated him for the service he was providing Boko.
