Clara Olsen: An icon has departed

Pamela Dube | Friday January 31, 2014 17:14

PAMELA DUBE KELEPANG

Correspondent

do not like writing obituaries, especially of people who in life, even in death, occupy mind space. So, writing about Clara Olsen just hours after her departure is sheer torture.

In here lies the pioneer, an icon! Here lies a fighter for professionalism, media freedom and women's emancipation.

I try not to personalise, but how can I not when the departed has touched, and could have unintentionally changed the course of my life? For me it is personal that MmaOly is no more.

Her passing yesterday has also put me on a guilt trip. As my colleagues will attest, a day did not go by last week without me talking about her.

'I should give MmaOly a call. I should visit her,' I kept saying, to which my colleague Oarabile Mosikare, who left The Gazette just a month after I did almost two years ago would respond: 'I don't think you will get her, she is not well...'

It is at this point that I recall a conversation we had sometime in 2012. I was then the managing editor of The Gazette and was not too well myself.

We were discussing why I felt I could not continue in that position. Before we settled for a less demanding position, she confided in me about her health condition.

But it was what she said next that had me; 'Pam, I am not afraid of death. What I fear is how I am going to go. I don't like pain...' she said.

In my silent prayer yesterday, I hoped she was not in pain in her last minutes.

One thing I am proud of having managed to do in my short stay at The Gazette was to get Mma Olsen to stop working excruciating deadlines.

By the time I left, the latest she would leave the office was 7pm on Mondays, not the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

But then this was one dedicated, professional and stickler for perfection, who trusted few to deliver a quality paper to the public.

Mma Olsen was many things to many people. While she would always tell that her first love was writing, the 74-year old mother and grandmother was a trained nurse.

A profession she took up because, as she would say: 'Those days a girl had only two choices, nursing or teaching.'

She did not, however, forsake nursing. At News Company Botswana, regular coverage of nursing news and contributions to the Retired Nurses Association were made religiously.

Outside family, Mma Olsen's life revolved around media and politics. In the early 1970s, she left her home village of Tlokweng for Johannesburg, South Africa, landing at the then highly politicised Rand Daily Mail, then The World newspaper, which later became The Sowetan. The latter, where I worked in the 1990s, was our talking point, though not our first interaction.

As a post-Cambridge youngster, I would hang around The Gazette offices at the main mall, on my friend Abraham Motsokono's typewriter, and bash a poem and carelessly leave it there. The following week it would appear in the newspaper.

Soon the paper's poetry section was born, and together with the late Cassels Botlhoko, we became trendsetters.

I do not recall ever being paid for that! But then this was the birth of a journalist, all thanks to MmaOly's nurturing ways.

Always in partnership with husband Peter Olsen, Mma Olsen the activist worked for organisations such as Amnesty International in London before getting into politics.

She then joined the Botswana Democratic Party as information officer, a post that catapulted her into the national political stage. In 1984, she was in Parliament on a special election ticket. The stay was not always rosy as at one time, the gender activist who was instrumental in the formation of such organisations as Emang Basadi, was fighting an opposition motion calling for guaranteed pay for maternity leave.

But the tigress also found herself at loggerheads with her own party when she was one of the leading figures in fighting against the Citizenship Bill, which was to deprive children born of foreign fathers of their Botswana citizenship.

While still in the House, opportunity came knocking. A former colleague, Malawian media activist and executive, Al Osman, sold Mma Olsen shares of a small black and white eight-pager, The Gazette. She told The Voice in one of the rare interviews two years ago that, she bought into the newspaper because 'the urge to buy shares was because there were few mediums in the country to disseminate information and yet there was a lot that Batswana needed to know and thus had to fill in that gap''.

With that, she became the first indigenous Motswana and a woman to own and run an independent newspaper. From humble beginnings, a media empire in News Company Botswana was born.

Under it today, and running from a three-storey office block in Kgale Mews, is flagship The Gazette, defunct monthly magazine Lapologa and other media interests.

My closest interaction with this tenacious woman was, however, in the area of media activism.

Having been in the trenches longer, on my return in 2003 to start Mokgosi, Mma Oly's first call was to remind me of the fact that the media bill was still on the table, and young leaders needed to step forward to run battles against it.

It was then that the Press Council of Botswana was born, and she was elected the chairperson, and I, the vice-chair.

But she did not last long, as months into the battlefield she was attacked at 4am when she returned home to Tlokweng after deadline.

She was convinced her attackers were no ordinary thugs, but security elements intending to stop her activism and the newspaper exposing corruption in government.

When I paid her home a visit, she informed me there and then: 'I'm out, take over, but be careful...' She would not engage me further on that, except to assure me of her support.

But if anyone had hoped she would be intimidated into silence, it did not work. Years later, during and after the 2008 controversial passing of the Media Practitioners Act, Mma Olsen was in the battlefield, sponsoring research and legal work.

Together with other publishers and media executives, they formed the Publishers Forum to actively stop the enactment and later make the law ineffective. She left her office still wondering what next.

Like many of us, Mma Olsen was no saint. While many speak of her caring nature, where she would even open her purse and part with money to rescue a friend or colleague, others have felt hard done by her. That is a story for the memoirs! What lives for now is her legacy. Quality and clean works of journalism, a professional and independent press!

To Mr Peter Olsen, Shike and siblings, as we mourn the legend's passing all we can say to you is thank you for sharing MmaOly with us! It was an honour to work and serve under her.

Aluta continua!

In here lies the pioneer, an icon! Here lies a fighter for professionalism, media freedom and women's emancipation. I try not to personalise, but how can I not when the departed has touched, and could have unintentionally changed the course of my life? For me it is personal that MmaOly is no more.

Her passing yesterday has also put me on a guilt trip. As my colleagues will attest, a day did not go by last week without me talking about her.'I should give MmaOly a call. I should visit her,' I kept saying, to which my colleague Oarabile Mosikare, who left The Gazette just a month after I did almost two years ago would respond: 'I don't think you will get her, she is not well...'It is at this point that I recall a conversation we had sometime in 2012. I was then the managing editor of The Gazette and was not too well myself. We were discussing why I felt I could not continue in that position. Before we settled for a less demanding position, she confided in me about her health condition.

But it was what she said next that had me; 'Pam, I am not afraid of death. What I fear is how I am going to go. I don't like pain...' she said. In my silent prayer yesterday, I hoped she was not in pain in her last minutes.One thing I am proud of having managed to do in my short stay at The Gazette was to get Mma Olsen to stop working excruciating deadlines. By the time I left, the latest she would leave the office was 7pm on Mondays, not the wee hours of Tuesday morning. But then this was one dedicated, professional and stickler for perfection, who trusted few to deliver a quality paper to the public.Mma Olsen was many things to many people. While she would always tell that her first love was writing, the 74-year old mother and grandmother was a trained nurse. A profession she took up because, as she would say: 'Those days a girl had only two choices, nursing or teaching.'She did not, however, forsake nursing. At News Company Botswana, regular coverage of nursing news and contributions to the Retired Nurses Association were made religiously.Outside family, Mma Olsen's life revolved around media and politics. In the early 1970s, she left her home village of Tlokweng for Johannesburg, South Africa, landing at the then highly politicised Rand Daily Mail, then The World newspaper, which later became The Sowetan. The latter, where I worked in the 1990s, was our talking point, though not our first interaction. As a post-Cambridge youngster, I would hang around The Gazette offices at the main mall, on my friend Abraham Motsokono's typewriter, and bash a poem and carelessly leave it there. The following week it would appear in the newspaper. Soon the paper's poetry section was born, and together with the late Cassels Botlhoko, we became trendsetters. I do not recall ever being paid for that! But then this was the birth of a journalist, all thanks to MmaOly's nurturing ways.Always in partnership with husband Peter Olsen, Mma Olsen the activist worked for organisations such as Amnesty International in London before getting into politics.

She returned home in 1975 to join the Department of Information and Broadcasting, something she once dismissed in our chats as 'nothing special'. Yes, that was MmaOly; deliberate, quite, yet cynical if she wanted to. She then joined the Botswana Democratic Party as information officer, a post that catapulted her into the national political stage. In 1984, she was in Parliament on a special election ticket. The stay was not always rosy as at one time, the gender activist who was instrumental in the formation of such organisations as Emang Basadi, was fighting an opposition motion calling for guaranteed pay for maternity leave. But the tigress also found herself at loggerheads with her own party when she was one of the leading figures in fighting against the Citizenship Bill, which was to deprive children born of foreign fathers of their Botswana citizenship. While still in the House, opportunity came knocking. A former colleague, Malawian media activist and executive, Al Osman, sold Mma Olsen shares of a small black and white eight-pager, The Gazette. She told The Voice in one of the rare interviews two years ago that, she bought into the newspaper because 'the urge to buy shares was because there were few mediums in the country to disseminate information and yet there was a lot that Batswana needed to know and thus had to fill in that gap''.

With that, she became the first indigenous Motswana and a woman to own and run an independent newspaper. From humble beginnings, a media empire in News Company Botswana was born. Under it today, and running from a three-storey office block in Kgale Mews, is flagship The Gazette, defunct monthly magazine Lapologa and other media interests. My closest interaction with this tenacious woman was, however, in the area of media activism. Having been in the trenches longer, on my return in 2003 to start Mokgosi, Mma Oly's first call was to remind me of the fact that the media bill was still on the table, and young leaders needed to step forward to run battles against it. It was then that the Press Council of Botswana was born, and she was elected the chairperson, and I, the vice-chair. But she did not last long, as months into the battlefield she was attacked at 4am when she returned home to Tlokweng after deadline. She was convinced her attackers were no ordinary thugs, but security elements intending to stop her activism and the newspaper exposing corruption in government. When I paid her home a visit, she informed me there and then: 'I'm out, take over, but be careful...' She would not engage me further on that, except to assure me of her support. But if anyone had hoped she would be intimidated into silence, it did not work. Years later, during and after the 2008 controversial passing of the Media Practitioners Act, Mma Olsen was in the battlefield, sponsoring research and legal work.

Together with other publishers and media executives, they formed the Publishers Forum to actively stop the enactment and later make the law ineffective. She left her office still wondering what next. Like many of us, Mma Olsen was no saint. While many speak of her caring nature, where she would even open her purse and part with money to rescue a friend or colleague, others have felt hard done by her. That is a story for the memoirs! What lives for now is her legacy. Quality and clean works of journalism, a professional and independent press! To Mr Peter Olsen, Shike and siblings, as we mourn the legend's passing all we can say to you is thank you for sharing MmaOly with us! It was an honour to work and serve under her. Aluta continua!