Sir Ketumile Masire
| Sir Quett Masire | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| 2nd President of Botswana | |
|
In office 13 July 1980 – 31 March 1998 Acting to 18 July 1980 |
|
| Vice President |
Lenyeletse Seretse Peter Mmusi Festus Mogae |
| Preceded by | Seretse Khama |
| Succeeded by | Festus Mogae |
| 1st Vice-President of Botswana | |
|
In office 30 September 1966 – 13 July 1980 |
|
| President | Seretse Khama |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Lenyeletse Seretse |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Quett Ketumile Joni Masire 23 July 1925 Kanye, Bechuanaland |
| Died | 22 June 2017 (aged 91) Gaborone, Botswana |
| Resting place | Kanye, Southern District, Botswana |
| Political party | Botswana Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Gladys Olebile Masire (m. 1958; d. 2013) |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Tiger Kloof Native Institute |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Religion | Christian |
Sir Quett Ketumile Joni Masire,GCMG (23 July 1925 – 22 June 2017) was the second President of Botswana, in office from 1980 to 1998. He was a leading figure in the independence movement and then the new government, and played a crucial role in facilitating and protecting Botswana's steady financial growth and development. He stepped down in 1998 and was succeeded by Vice-President Festus Mogae, who became the third President of Botswana.
Masire was born on 23 July 1925 in Kanye, Botswana into a cattle herding family to Gaipone (née Kgopo) and Joni Masire. He grew up in a community where male commoners, such as himself, were expected to become low-paid migrant labourers in the mines of apartheid South Africa. From an early age Masire set himself apart through academic achievement. After graduating at the top of his class at the Kanye school, he received a scholarship to further his education at the Tiger Kloof Educational Institute in South Africa.
In 1950, after graduating from Tiger Kloof, Masire helped found the Seepapitso II Secondary School, the first institution of higher learning in the Bangwaketse Reserve. He served as the school's headmaster for about six years. During this period he clashed with Bathoen II, the autocratic Bangwaketse ruler. Resenting Bathoen's many petty interferences in school affairs, Masire, working through the revived Bechuanaland African Teachers Association, became an advocate for the autonomy of protectorate schools from chiefly authority.
In 1957, Masire earned a Master Farmers Certificate and established himself as one of the territory's leading agriculturalists. His success led to renewed conflict with the jealous Bathoen, who seized his farms as a penalty for the supposed infraction of fencing communal land.
In 1958, Masire was appointed as the protectorate reporter for the African Echo/Naledi ya Botswana newspaper. He was also elected to the newly reformed Bangwaketse Tribal Council and, after 1960, the protectorate-wide African and Legislative Councils. Although he attended the first Kanye meeting of the People's Party, the earliest nationalist grouping to enjoy a mass following in the territory, he declined to join the movement.
...
Wikipedia