Hundreds of mourners attended the Botswana National Front (BNF) political veteran, Cde Elmon Tafa’s funeral at Chadibe village, some few kilometres west of Francistown over the weekend. Cde Tafa used pseudonyms like Cde Moore, Cde Mooney and Elijah Taufila in newspapers to hide from government purging wrath as he was a government employee at some stage. It was Cde Moore pseudonym that became more popular as he published many hard hitting articles under it.
Several speakers paid glowing lyrical tribute to the fallen BNF Marxist ideologue. The BNF Acting President, Rev Dr Prince Dibeela described Tafa as a political colossus and that Tafa’s demise came at a crucial time when he was needed most to complete the opposition revolution. He compared Tafa to other fallen heroes, and that his deeds weighed as heavy as those of AmIlcar Lopes da Costa Cabral, Josiah Tongogara, Chris Hani, Martin Luther King jnr who all died just before they could taste the independence they had fought so hard for. He said it was therefore not surprising that some heroes were falling on the way side before they could enjoy the fruits of their struggle. Dibeela observed that even the biblical Moses did not reach the promised land of honey and milk. He said Martin Luther King Jnr once said in Memphis ‘I am not troubled, I am not worried for I have seen the glory of land, the promised land’. Like Cde Moore, he too did not reach it.
Dibeela said this was the right time to celebrate Tafa’s life as his contribution to the BNF is priceless. He described him as being in the league and cohort of other BNF special leaders like comrades Dr Kenneth Koma, Klass Motshidise, Mareledi Giddie, Obonetse OK Menyatso, Otsweletse Moupo, Professor Monageng Mogalakwe as he leaves a body of rich political literature. “I hope we are serious that we will build a stature for him under the party school and publish a book in honour of this man. But, even if we don’t do that, this man has immortalised himself. His ideas, his dreams, we are not going to intern them in the ground today. His ideas and dreams will continue to live in our spirits and hearts. I hope you are serious to live his dreams, but he has immortalised himself”, mourned Dibeela. He said Tafa with colleagues like Professor Mogalakwe and other party partners have also written policy documents for the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) for 2019. “We are not power mongers and we don’t just want to attain state power, but to positively change the lives of Batswana”, he said. He said while the country was well endowed with natural resources it is only the rich few that were enjoying the wealth of the country alone. Equitable wealth creation, women and youth empowerment are some of the issues that UDC will deal with post 2019 as there are clear policies and programmes that have been formulated by Cde Moore’s team. There will be equal opportunities for everyone, said Dibeela, praising Tafa and his team for the completed UDC 2019 policies.
The BNF Vice President also told fellow mourners that UDC will promote a free media and make Botswana Television and Radio Botswana a true public media that is not biased towards the BDP. He said UDC will promote a free media in 2019 as Tafa had wished.
Earlier on, Cde Moore’s sister Professor Opha Dube, representing her siblings, had described Tafa as a loving and caring brother who took care of them even during their youthful days. She said he was a hard worker and carried out domestic chores with diligence, including farming activities. Cde Moore also respected education and motivated them to pass.
Several other mourners reminisced on how Tafa passionately influenced their success personally as he was a professional veteran educator; his deep knowledge on the teachings of Marx, Engels and Lenin and other related communism and liberation literature. In all these, Cde Moore was fixed and unshakable as the northern star. The speakers included his son Nhlanhla Othusitse representing his siblings; BNF National Chairperson Abigail Mogalakwe; Parliamentary representative Shawn Nthaile; BNF Youth League President Velem Heii; Tafa’s mentee Kago Mokotedi; his friends M.D Lecha and Ishmael William; former student Solly Rakgomo; long time political acquaintances Akanyang Magama and Professor Professor Mogalakwe; University of Botswana representative Dr Mbakiso Dambe. Political organisations present were BPP, BMD, BCP and were represented by Gilbert Mangole and Akanyang Magama. The trade unions present were TAWU, BOSETU, BMWU, BLLAWHU and BOFEPUSU. Cde Moore strongly believed in trade unions and that they had all the power to influence and improve their working and living standards. He fumed at times at the seemingly docile stance of trade unions when they failed to organise public demonstrations when there were glaring violation of labour rights.
Cde Moore was popularly elected into the BNF Central Committee for the second time in 2016 as Secretary for Political Education having joined the party in 1978. He is survived by 9 siblings, 5 children and 2 grandchildren. A memorial service was held for him in Francistown to honour him and another one for Gaborone is in the offing.
Justin Hunyepa
BNF Information and Publicity Secretary
