10 Things You Didn’t Know About Former President Sir Ketumile Masire

He was born Quett Ketumile Jonni Masire back in 1925 in Kanye and was one the first few Batswana to have an advanced education. He graduated at Tigerkloof in 1950 where he went to further his studies. He became Botswana’s second president after the death of Sir Seretse Khama.

1. He was a journalist before he became an active politician and used to work for a newspaper called Naledi ya Botswana/African Echo.
2. He was a BDP party member and has been a vice to the first president of the country Sir Seretse Khama since 1966.
3. Masire played a crucial role in facilitating and protecting Botswana’s steady financial growth and development.
4. He was the son of a headman.
5. He is one of the founders of Seepapitso Secondary School in his home village of Kanye.
6. He was the headmaster at the school for about six years and became an advocate for the autonomy of protectorate schools from chiefly authority.
7. Masire earned a Master Farmers Certificate in 1957 and established himself as one of the territory’s leading agriculturalists and still owns one of the biggest farms in the country.
8. In 1969, Masire’s arch rival whom they disagreed on so many things, autocratic ruler of the Bangwaketse,kgosi Bathoen II Seepapitso abdicated, only to re-emerge as the leader of the opposition National Front. This set the stage for Bathoen’s local electoral victory over Masire during the same year. However, the ruling party won decisively at the national level, thus allowing Masire to maintain his position as one of the four “specially elected” members of Parliament.
9. He had six children with his wife Olebile Masire who died in 2013.
10. He was also an author, having written books like, Memoirs of An African Democrat