Dj Sid Devil’s Advocate May 14th 2014 1. Wa Ga Mma Sir G Months and weeks leading to the Kanye BDP Congress, I was firmly behind the party president’s preferred candidates, blindly loyal to the bone. I reacted with anger, disappointment and some sense of political hatred for the team that achieved a clean sweep. Gomolemo Sir G Motswaledi was part of that team. I disliked the whole lot of them for defying the president, but if you asked me what wrong they had done, I wouldn’t have told. Such is the blind loyalty that reigns at all political parties in Botswana, perhaps in many other countries too. I was very delighted when he was suspended from the party. How dare this boy challenges my president, I felt. That political hatred and dislike grew even bigger when he challenged the decision to suspend him at the high court. I received news of his failure at the high court with jubilation and the serves you right attitude. I was one amongst thousands perhaps even hundreds of thousands who felt the same. I greeted his subsequent expulsion from the party and mass exodus of his friends to BMD with pleasure. Leave my party president alone. For the next four years, I had no political love for him and his party. I Viewed them as enemies. I only had sweet memories of our earlier encounter prior to 2010. Actually, up until the Kanye congress I did not regard him as a political heavyweight, primarily because, at the time I was also not interested in politics and so had no idea how well entrenched and a growing powerhouse he was then. The Sir G I knew and liked a lot was one prior to 2010. It was the Sir G wa music and Sunday Soccer, especially the latter. We played for the same Sunday Soccer Time called Mixed Bag based at Gaborone Club. Believe it or not, me and him were the tried and tested two centre backs of that time. I was the clean tackler, he was a no nonsense sweeper, if he had to take you and the ball together, he would. Eishhh, me and him had some fun games. We both left the team for different reasons, me with a knee injury and him to concentrate more in politics. I will cherish those special memories we had on the field. For some strange reason, we never interacted in our other common hobby, music, perhaps because he was into choral music and I was into jabuling music. We didn’t meet or talk to each other again until the Gabz Fm Parliamentary Debates Launch at the Gaborone Main Mall. It was a bittersweet brief re-union for it would mark the last time we ever spoke to one another. A lot has been said about what a sweet man he was, which I can 110% confirm. He came to me and addressed me with as he normally did, “dumela wa ga mma”(he called me that cos he says our parents grew up together in Serowe). He was in a hurry after the launch to get somewhere, he requested a meeting between just the two of us at President Hotel soon for tea because he wanted to talk to me. We exchanged numbers and went on our way. Truth is, deep down I was a little reluctant to meet him because I believed he wanted to ask me to drop out of the race and perhaps support him. Fortunately for me, commitments got in the way of that meeting as I had to go to Tsabong for almost a month and he was busy as you all know ka BMD/UDC matters. Ironically the last time I saw him was in Tsabong where he was accompanied by Ndaba Gaolatlhe to launch the UDC Kgalagadi South Parliamentary Candidate, Hon John Toto. He was in his element as usual, with the audience eating out of his hand. I decided to finally meet him on my return to Gaborone and just give him an ear. As much as I did not view him with the same political hatred I had for him nine months ago, I felt I was not ready to go to bed with him either. I had gathered strength to turn him down if he asked me to drop out of the race. Sadly, that meeting never happened. I got back to Gaborone on Monday after I had car trouble in Jwaneng the previous day. He passed on on Tuesday. Now, I will never know what he wanted to tell me or ask me, and it haunts me a bit. I am more disturbed by the fact that we continue to lose great musicians with none of their voices captured in songs/music for future generations to enjoy them in song. For an accomplished singer of his caliber, we surely should have a few albums of his in our libraries. We met and parted Wa Ga Mma, and hopefully, we shall meet again. I appeal to the nation, to not let you rest and disappear, but to keep you alive, to work with you by remote to help the people of Botswana prosper. I appeal to the creative and performing arts industry, the music producers and artists alike to keep you alive through songs, for you are indeed one of a kind legend!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 15:48:50 +0000
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