09 Apr 2024

Former anti-apartheid activist and Botswana Congress Party founding president, Mr Michael Dingake, will be buried on Sunday in Gaborone.

This was confirmed by a family spokesperson, Mr Martin Dingake in an interview with BOPA on Monday evening.

He said that daily prayers for the late liberation struggle icon would be held in Mogoditshane, effective Tuesday.

Mr Dingake said a memorial service would be held on Saturday at 9am at Notwane grounds in Gaborone. The family would in due course announce the funeral service arrangements, including the venue.

The late Dingake, who spent 15 years imprisoned at South Africa’s Robben Island Prison as a political prisoner for his role in the fight against the South African apartheid regime, died on

Sunday at Sidilega Private Hospital after suffering a stroke on Friday evening.

Apart from his engagement in the liberation struggle, Mr Dingake will also be remembered for his role in the local politics, having been the vice president of Botswana National Front (BNF), and a Member of Parliament for Gaborone Central in 1994 – 1999.

In 1998, he was among the 11 opposition MPs who broke away from BNF to form Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which elected him its first president.

He retired from active politics in 2004 and was a regular newspaper columnist at Mmegi, as well as being an author and human rights activist.

Among the books he authored include My Fight against Apartheid, The Politics of Confusion and My Mother was a Woman, which makes a case for women.

The late Dingake was born in Bobonong on 11 February 1928.

He joined the African National Congress in 1952 and was arrested by the apartheid security agents in 1965. He was deported to Botswana after his release from Robben Island Prison in 1981. ENDS