Former Member of Parliament for Chobe constituency Gibson Nshimwe has passed on, his party the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has announced.
BCP Information and Publicity Secretary Dithapelo Keorapetse announced the sad news on Monday morning.
“It is with deepest sorrow that we inform party members and Batswana of the passing of our beloved comrade and BCP founder Cde Gibson Nshimwe on Sunday the 15th April 2018 following an illness,” said Keorapetse.
He added that the BCP knows how difficult this must be for the family, relatives and friends as well as comrades of Cde Nshimwe.
“The bereaved are in our prayers.”
Alliance for the Progressives MP Wynter Mmolotsi remembers Nshimwe as a hard working opposition legislator who confronted any debate in Parliament with vigour and in-depth information.
“He was generally a good man who never shied away to sit back and relax from any topic of debate in Parliament, keeping the ruling party Government on their toes,” Mmolotsi said in an interview.
Botswana National Front said the late legislator has “contributed immensely for the opposition politics adding value to their cause in these tough circumstances.”
“And for that we wish him to rest in peace and his entire family,” BNF spokesperson Justin Hunyepa added in an interview.
Although he never personally interacted with the former BCP legislator, Hunyepa remembers Mshimwe as a “gentleman with a passion for opposition politics and contributed immensely to debates in Parliament during his tenure.”
Born in 1958 in Satau village in Chobe District, Nshimwe also served as a councillor for Plateau ward in Kasane under the banners of the opposition BNF before jumping ship for the party’s splinter-BCP to clinch the parliamentary seat 1999-2004.
He was once BCP Regional Chairman for North West region and at the time of his death a Deputy Regional Chairman.
During his earlier days he was an active trade unionist.
Besides politics, he was also a businessman with interests in the tourism sector.
He is survived by his mother, three daughters and five siblings.
“Daily memorial services are currently held every day at his house in Plateu Ward in Kasane. He will be laid to rest on Saturday the 21st in Kasane,” Keorapetse said.
“BCP and UDC members are especially encouraged to attend both the memorial services and the funeral in full party regalia to celebrate the life well lived of Cde Nshimwe,” he added.
Brains Kwadipane, a BCP activist and former Ghanzi North candidate in the past national elections befriended Nshimwe when he was District Officer-Administration at Chobe in 1996.
“My last encounter with him was in 2016 when I visited his tourism business at Maun. He was as usual a disciplined cadre of the BCP,” he said.
