DARE DEVIL! 2014 MISA Botswana Print Journalist of the Year

Source : Kutlwano

Author : Thomas Nkhoma

Location : GABORONE

Event : INTERVIEW

When he declared in the newsrom that he would be going after the so called satinists, no one believed him. Everyone thought he was just joking. But this is Mothusi Soloko. In the Kutlwano newsroom he is known as “The Learned” given his somewhat “arrogant” claim to  intellectual superiority. 

However, one thing no one can take away from him is his dare devil trait. He says without people like him, the world would be boring and there would be no progress as everyone would be afraid to take risks. Mothusi says it is people like him and the Ford brothers who can claim the brains behind human progress.  

He is not afraid of danger. In fact some have warned that he is danger to himself but he dismisses all that misplaced fear of people who lack self belief but most importantly suffering from intellectual poverty to realise their potential to change the world. Can you imagine at one point he consulted traditional doctors just to test the powers they claim? Having failed to get the outcome he wanted, he went for the Tswapong Hills gods. 

Again nothing happened. His next port of call was the legendary Lentswe-La-Baratani. There are claims that when you climb the hill, the world has seen the last of you. However, Mothusi came back to tell the story of his escapades up the hill. 

Still he felt that was not enough to have fulfilled his quest to look danger in the eye. He thought long and hard about his next move. Yes! Satanism was next on the menu. He made appointments with all those who claimed to follow the devil. 

“I woke up to a heavy knock on the door and the ringing of my cellphone. Phakiso and two skinny blokes stood by my door. I could have laughed my lugns out. Two skinny boys with mohawk hairstyles, and they wanted me to believe they were satanists!” writes Mothusi in a May 2013 issue of Kutlwano. 

Talk of arrogance of a man whose quest for “real adventure” is unyeilding! He doesn`t mince his words and would tell you to your face what he thought about you.

Pew! What will really convince this man that sometimes you have to let lying dogs lie. No! He would not take that. He wanted to meet the devil himself. Lo and behold! A young boy would this year claim to be the beast himself leading a group of youngstars worshiping the devil in caves in Maun.

The group sent shivers down the spine of many a Maun resident. Not “The Learned!” He had long been waiting for something like this and off he took a flight to Maun unconvinced that this so called “Beast” was what he claimed to be. True to his trait, Mothusi dared the young man to prove that he really was the devil or he had evil powers. 

They went through all the rituals but in the end, this dare devil Kutlwano scribe came out the winner. Instead, he won this lost soul towards Christ and arranged for the removal of his “666” tatoos. He even arranged for the young man and one of his initiates to go back to school. What a way to end the year as Mothusi was voted MISA Botswana Print Journalist of the Year 2014!  ENDS