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Towering above many national figures and certainly Botswana’s best known Muslim personalities, Shamshad Khan, breathed his last, August 13 when he succumbed to a decades old heart ailment.
Shamshad Khan was a close associate and confidante of President Festus Mogae and senior members of the Botswana government. As a former executive member of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, he gained enormous respect for his invaluable contribution. His political career spanned more than four decades, during which time his popularity earned him the deputy mayorship of the capital, Gabarones.
Khan’s role in the liberation struggle against apartheid is a chapter of his life which he reflected upon with modesty. Yet it is well known that he fulfilled an enormous task in assisting ANC/PAC cadres’ escapades from South Africa.
His expertise on matters pertaining to Sharia, philosophy, literature, history and the arts were legendary. So too was his communication skills. Being proficient in many languages, apart from Urdu and the indigenous Tswana, allowed him access to literary sources enhancing his intellectual prowess. Author and journalist, film producer and environmentalist, Shamshad Khan excelled in every endeavour.
Shamshad Khan was a resource in more ways than one. As a philanthropist and benefactor of many worthy causes, he will leave a huge void in the social tapestry of Botswana.
The huge turnout at his funeral in Gabarones, where he was laid to rest in the same cemetery which holds the bodies of members of the Chand family – martyred by ruthless apartheid bombs – was an indication of the grief shared by rich and poor, Muslim and non-Muslim. He is survived by wife, son and two daughters and grand children.
(Iqbal Jassat, Chairman: Media Review Network).
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