Africa-Press – Botswana. Speakers have described former Department of Information Services employee Mr David Modukanele as a simple, soft-spoken and likeable character who avoided confrontation at all costs.
At his burial service in Kanye on Sunday, Mr Modukanele who died on September 7 after being knocked down by a vehicle in Mmamashia, was described as peaceful, loving and respectful to all.
A former colleague, Mr Nathaniel Motshabi said he, Mr Modukanele and five others joined the then Department of Information and Broadcasting in 1984 after which they were deployed to different sections of the department.
He said the deceased was deployed to the DailyNews section where he cut his teeth in his service to the department and by extension to the nation.
His life was quite a closed book, Mr Motshabi said Mr Modukanele hardly ever shared anything about his life and that no amount of probing would draw anything out of him, leaving colleagues clueless about much of his life to the very end of his stay with the department.
Another former colleague Mr Molefhe Mmamapilo said in the many years that he had worked with him, the ever calm Mr Modukanele maintained his composure in situations where others could have gotten worked up. “I saw him angry only once in those many years that we worked together. Whatever had irked him had happened in my absence and when I walked in and found him fuming, I quickly abandoned my efforts to try to get him to share what had happened as he curtly stated that he didn’t want to talk about it,” Mr Mmamapilo said.
Mr Keaobaka Motsumi of Notable Security where the deceased was working as a security guard at the time of his passing, said their departed employee and colleague loved his job and performed his duties with minimal supervision.
“He was reliable and trustworthy, and these traits endeared him to those that he was assigned to work with,” he said.
His uncle, Mr Modisagaarekwe Tau said though soft-spoken, patient and a man of a few words, his nephew did not like being rubbed the wrong way and that the few occasions that he got cross he expressed his displeasure in a way that would without doubt instill shock and fear in whoever was at the receiving end of his outburst of anger.
During his days with the Department of Information Services, ‘Day’ as he was fondly known to his then colleagues, served in different capacities and rose through the ranks from a junior reporter until he joined the management ranks where he at one point served as Principal Information Officer overseeing the department’s Kweneng region.
A prolific feature writer, he groomed and polished many reporters particularly during the years when he formed part of the management of Kutlwano magazine section.
Also a good Setswana writer and editor, he contributed greatly to refining Setswana news articles before they made way into the DailyNews.
During his employ in the department, he had opportunity to further his studies in Canada and South Africa where he earned his Diploma and Bachelors Degree, qualifications that helped enhance his effectiveness in his job.
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