Sunday, February 16, 2025

Rampholo Molefhe ÔÇô A life etched in the pathways of a country

The dawn of the 24th day of December 2012 brought with it the sunset of the days of Rampholo Molefhe’s life. The prominent journalist, musician and social commentator finally gave in to a long illness in the afternoon of that ill fated day. He was my friend; a good hearted man with a beautiful mind who loved a good laugh. His passing marked the end of an era both in the country’s musical and political spheres. Never again will he walk amongst us and never will there be one such as him. Yet his life will remain etched in the paths he walked and the contributions he made to the shaping of Botswana.

The essence of Rampholo Molefhe was hinged on two things; everything else fell from there. Firstly, he was characterized by his political beliefs and convictions which sprouted in his calm yet determined spirit as a boy living in the USA. He learned from the politics of the Black Panthers, Malcom X, Martin Luther King and other African American freedom fighters of the time.

Later he drank from the leftist writings of Karl Marx and his peers. So, it was natural that he participated in the destruction of the white minority rule in South Africa. His contribution to the struggle for black self determination in South Africa was apparently a very significant one.

Speaking at his funeral Jonas Gwangwa, the famous South African Musician, made specific mention of it and Douglas Tsiako also took time to recount the dangerous missions that they undertook for the African National Congress. His sister, Wame Molefhe, also told the mourners how Lefifi Tladi, a reputable South African painter and freedom fighter, bemoaned the fact that Rampholo was neither compensated nor officially acknowledged for his contribution in the struggle to uproot apartheid even though many whose contributions were less had benefited.

Rampholo himself did tell me about those days and whenever he did there was a sparkle in his eyes and danger in his voice, particularly when he spoke of this one time when he and some comrades had to leave a Umkhonto we Sizwe camp in a hurry under life threatening circumstances.

At home he was a Botswana National Front activist for many years having started during the days of Dr Kenneth Koma’s study groups; his enthusiasm for the politics of the Front only waning in later life as a result of the incessant bickering within the party and what he saw as ideological drought.

His politics were also visible in his long running column Tantjie. It was during his Tantjie days that he was at his most brilliant, both as a columnist and journalist. He engaged economists such as Keith Jefferies in debates over a number of issues. Notable among them was on the concept of Income in Kind as it relates to the poverty datum line. He wondered how it could be said that a man, who begins to chase a hare (mmutla) in the morning only to catch it in the evening, would have by so doing earned income that could in fact remove him and his family from the poverty bracket. It is an argument that never ceased to excite me not because of any academic stature but simply because it was able to reduce the concept to the understanding of ordinary people and what it actually meant for them. Who can forget his epic battle with Wayne Edge over what Rampholo held as inaccuracies in Mpho Motsamai’s Biography written by Edge? And the history scuffles he had with Jeff Ramsay.

Rampholo also contributed a great deal in the struggle of the employees of Local Authorities to better their terms and conditions of employment. He attended his first Botswana Unified Local Government Service Association (BULGSA) conference in Tsabong in 1997 to give the conference the much needed press coverage from the independent press. From that time forth, he wrote religiously about BULGSA’s plight for a Job Evaluation exercise that would equate the pay of Local Authorities’ employees to that of their counter parts in central government. In this way he helped popularize the struggle which was successful in the end. He also helped pressurize government through informative and biting articles to ratify ILO conventions that ultimately led to the unionization of the public sector employees’ Associations.

He also facilitated workshops for BULGSA publicity secretaries where he coached them on how to write simple articles, write press releases and generally work with the media; if our labour movement was progressive, Rampholo would have long assisted in the establishment of a workers newspaper, for that was one of his deepest wishes. Such was his love for and dedication to the struggles of the marginalized.

Secondly, Rampholo was characterized by his passion for jazz and, in particular, by his love for the piano. When he was on the piano, his face going through a number of contortions while his mouth mumbled inaudibles he was truly home and happy. He loved to play. And as Jonas Gwanga put it when speaking at his funeral, Rampholo was a true jazz man.

His music career though not illustrious and money spinning was noteworthy and exciting and it contributed to the establishment of the music industry in Botswana. He has played both locally and internationally with music greats such as Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwanga, the late Dennis Mpale, George Swabi and the late Stampore. And many local musicians of certain repute Tsilo Baitsile, The late Malombo Mmereki, Lekofi, Bonjo, Banjo, Shanti Lo, Moscow and many others. He has also written some songs, notable among them being ‘Francistown.’

It was, I believe, the musician in him that made him love my poems. Particularly the one called SHARI which is about a man lamenting the absence of his lover who was lured away from him by the glitter of city lights. He convinced me to become part of the repertoire for a band he had formed.

I recited SHARI and Screams for Inner Peace in the backdrop of Njilo jilo and some other jazz tune which I have now forgotten.

It was during one of such performances that I was afforded a golden opportunity to appear on stage next to the celebrated guitarist John Selolwane and the late Dennis Mpale and for this I am forever greatful to Rampholo.

The one thing that many people did not know about the man they popularly knew as and called Chumza was his love for gardening. He spent long hours tilling the soil at Phase 4, planting vegetables and nurturing the sprouts until they became vegetables ready for the pots. He also loved to cook and I enjoyed the way he prepared the vegetables.

Rampholo Molefhe lived his life and his life was what it was. I enjoyed him. He was my friend. And as I stood in the sweltering heat on the 30th of December 2012 watching his casket go down into his final resting place, Dag Hammarskj├Âld ‘s words, from his book ‘Markings’ flowed into my mind:

‘A man who became what he could and was what he was, ready at any moment to gather everything into one simple sacrifice. Tomorrow we shall meet death and I and he shall thrust his sword into one who is wide awake; but in the meantime how grievous the memories of hours frittered away.’

At the time of his death Rampholo Molefhe was working on his autobiography which he named THE TRAVELS OF A TRAMP. What a title? Could it be that Chumza saw himself as a brilliant tramp? I doubt it for I believe he meant it as a parody or a literary travesty.

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