Volume 52 Issue 7 - July 2014 : Feature
Triumph over evil
Author : Mothusi Soloko
The first time I came face to face with Letsoseng Kedumetse, 19, popularly known as a “Maun Beast,” I was never convinced that he was a creature that wore a human-shape as many people would believe. I observed Letsoseng for prolonged periods of time and paid unqualified attention to his conversations.
His claim to have links with the devil, to me appeared not of deeper roots but rather on surface with his demeanour. I came to visit at a time when his spirits had visibly sunken to the point of exhaustion. Letsoseng no longer trusted anyone who came with promises of a better life than the one he already led. Many came but all left with empty promises.
Only a powerful stimulus would revive his soul. For many succeeding years, he had been on a recruitment drive for the devil with the hope that one day he might benefit from the wages of Satanism. However, that only served to drive him deeper into solitude and misery. As one of my colleagues would later put it, he needed a surgery of the soul.
I enumerated a dozen of guaranteed benefits associated with a clean life and that he would never descend into his present life once he tasted divine luxuries offered by the most high. Together with some government authorities and traditional leadership, I made a promise to take him back to school and remove the tattoos that littered his body, that is, if he was willing.
Upon my return the days that followed, I spent my nights immersed in books on Satanism and was apt to fall into transient dozing at work. During one lunch break, I woke from a deep slumber to hear his loud voice beaming with happiness as I drew my cellphone closer to my ear. “I have surrendered myself to the most high, peace be with you,” shouted Letsoseng.
When the May issue of Kutlwano hit the streets with his first article, we also learnt that Family of God Church in Francistown had travelled all the way to Maun to try and win Letsoseng`s soul to the side of God. “After you left, angels visited me in my dreams during one the nights coming with fire. In that dream, I saw the beast running away from the fire,” he said.
“The morning that followed, I felt like I had found and made peace with myself and then the church came to get me and I am now living in Francistown where I am learning the scripture,” he told me. Reflecting on his previous life, he talks about intense hate that filled his heart.
From Bishop Seamogetswe Keoleletse of Family of God Church`s account, winning Letsoseng`s soul to God was an easy task. “When we met him, he looked tired and was desperate for someone who could take him away from the darkness and we offered just that,” reveals Bishop Keoleletse.
“There was too much hate. I wanted to be alone and the more I was alone the more evil I would become. But now I have realised that there is a great power above all powers,” chips in an excited Letsoseng. After tasting the divine luxuries, he became impatient to get his tattoos removed from his body since they only served to remind him of his painful past with the devil.
Since then, I have been knocking on doors begging for those who share sympathy for the boy with me to come to his aid. It was a tall order because the seemingly countless tattoos would have costs running into several thousands of Pula. Finally we were offered a sponsorship by a tattoo clinic situated at the Main Mall in Gaborone owned by Dr Thomas Gilbert and Keabetswe Kedikilwe.
During the removal of the tattoos, Letsoseng came in with an entourage of pastors because as the bishop put it, “something bad was bound to happen during the removal of the tattoos hence a prayer was needed to calm down the demons that tormented this child”. Letsoseng pointed us to the tattoos that he hated the most which included the eye of a beast and a snake like caricature on his right arm.
As Dr Gilbert was removing the tattoos, Letsoseng curled himself into a foetal position while on some occasion he could be mistaken for speaking in tongues. We temporarily abandoned the removal process and agreed that he would come back the weeks that followed.