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Levi Mukarati in Gaborone, Botswana
President Mugabe will today join other leaders here for the burial of former Botswana President Sir Ketumile Masire at his birthplace in Khanye, southwest of Gaborone.
Sir Masire, who was Botswana’s second post-independence president from 1980 to 1989, died in hospital in Gaborone last week. He was 91.
President Mugabe landed at the Sir Seretse Khama Airport in Gaborone last night, where he was received by Botswana’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Vincent Seretse and officials from the Zimbabwean embassy.
Botswana declared three days of national mourning following the death of Sir Masire.
The former President played a leading role in the region, especially in peace initiatives to end Mozambique’s long civil war pitting Renamo rebels against the government .
He also mediated in political crisis that hit Kenya, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A respected statesman, Sir Masire was also chairperson of the International Pannel or Eminent Personalities which investigated the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Announcing the death of the former President, his private secretary, Fraser Tlhoiwe, said Sir Masire; “died peacefully at Bakamoso Private Hospital surrounded by his family at 10:10pm on June 22, 2017.”
Sir Masire was hospitalised for surgery on June 16 in intensive care and was thought to be stable.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter