But the reality is that this man belongs to the roll of honour. I had gotten an SMS from one of my mentors, Rre Metlhaetsile Leepile in the evening when I was about to retire. I recalled that when I got the news of the late Cde Same Bathobakae, it was almost at the same time. News of the passing away of such great people set you to think and sleep disappears. But sleep being so powerful and unrelenting will eventually sweep its way in. I met mogolle Methaetsile Leepile when he was the Editor of Mmegi wa Dikgang. Cde Patrick Van Rensburg had taken Leepile from a job that had a reliable income as a teacher and gave him an opportunity to later become a guru in media issues.
Mmegi wa Dikgang had started as a school newsletter at Swaneng Hill School. In 1984 it started operating as a national newspaper and was now based in Gaborone. It was struggling and was still trying to find its footing as a commercial enterprise. There was competition from The Guardian (founded by William Jones), The GAZETTE (founded by Al Osman, who now owns the largest private radio station in Malawi), The Examiner (founded by Brian Egner). The founders of all these publications were foreigners. My liking for writing was still very strong as I had just come out of Secondary School where another mentor and english teacher who had just completed his degree, Richard Tabulawa had pushed me to like writing. Together with other students at Swaneng Hill School like Steven Sedie, we set up a magazine called “The Mirror”.
