{"id":34706,"date":"2026-05-18T07:22:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=34706"},"modified":"2026-05-18T07:22:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T05:22:46","slug":"mogaes-death-is-a-loss-to-all-of-africa","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/mogaes-death-is-a-loss-to-all-of-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mogae\u2019s death is a loss to all of Africa\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has described the death of Botswana\u2019s third President, Festus Mogae, as a major loss not only for Botswana but for the entire African continent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mosisili was among several current and former leaders from the Southern African Development Community region who attended Mogae\u2019s funeral service in Gaborone over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mogae, who served as Botswana\u2019s president from 1998 to 2008, has been widely remembered as a respected economist, principled leader and unifier who helped shape Botswana\u2019s democratic and economic success.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during the funeral proceedings, Mosisili praised Mogae\u2019s leadership and commitment to the African continent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis passing is not a loss only to Batswana but to the entire African continent, which he served with such unwavering dedication and humility,\u201d Mosisili said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He described Mogae as \u201ca statesman of rare vision and integrity\u201d who governed Botswana with prudence and foresight, ensuring that the country\u2019s natural resources benefited its people.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mogae has received widespread praise for his role in promoting good governance, economic stability and the fight against HIV\/AIDS during his Presidency.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34707,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-34706","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has described the death of Botswana\u2019s third President, Festus Mogae, as a major loss for the entire African continent","published_date":"2026-05-18 07:08:24","news_description":"Former Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has described the death of Botswana\u2019s third President, Festus Mogae, as a major loss for the entire African continent","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34708,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/34706\/revisions\/34708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=34706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}