How 16 year old boy drowned
Residents of Thamaga are reeling in shock after a16 year-old boy Ofentse Rasedie died whilst being baptised.Ofentse was waiting for his Form three results at the time of his death. When The Midweek Sun team visited his family home on Monday, elders had gathered around the Kgotla in front of the yard, expressing disgust at the church, saying it should be held accountable. Rasedie, a member of Calvary Apostolic Church in Thamaga was with his friend Bofelo Entaile and brother Tshephang Rasedie when they went to church for an all night prayer service last Friday. Entaile tells The Midweek Sun that when they arrived at the church premises, they found no one and Tshephang went back home. “After some few minutes, Kanye branch members arrived and we went and woke up the host Pastor Dafita Masina and the service started,” he said. According to Entaile, the initial agreement was that there was going to be baptism service the following morning, which ended up being cancelled as people that were supposed to be baptised did not come in large numbers. However, a visiting Zimbabwean prophet only known as Lucky gave a prophecy in the wee hours of Saturday that Rasedie should be baptised alone. “Dafita confirmed the prophecy and even said he had told Rasedie to come prepared for baptism. He then ordered Lucky to go and baptise him at nearby swamps called Rakatanyane,” he said. Entaile, who grew up with Rasedie said that the deceased did not want to be baptised at Rakatanyane but rather Mahatelo stream where the church and other churches usually hold their baptism services, something the pastors rejected. “I was also hesitant when I heard that he should go ahead and get baptised while the baptism was cancelled. I even wanted to leave and go home because I was unsettled in my spirit. Actually, I left and said in passing that he should not drown. Something quickly told me to go with him and Lucky to the swamps,” he said. It is this premonition that makes Entaile believe that had he not gone with 28 year-old Lucky and Rasedie, the former was going to drown the boy and leave him dead inside the swamps and pretend he never went to baptise him. How he died Entaile said that he was shocked to find that the water could go up to Rasedie’s shoulder and that contrary to what is usually done during baptism services where they bring two people to hold the person being baptised, Lucky was comfortable with doing it alone. “I saw him trying to hold him but the swamps were too deep. I tried to warn him to remove him, but he ended up leaving him inside the water. I tried to help but it was just too deep. I lost balance. Tshephang came but he couldn’t help either. I saw Ofentse drown while Lucky was just standing outside the water, watching,” he said, with tears in his eyes. Entaile said he called the police who rushed to the scene but could not help, saying the water was deep. The police would then call members of the Special Support Group from Gaborone, who he said arrived after more than an hour. They managed to recover the teen’s body. Lucky is in police custody. The Midweek Sun has learned that Lucky, an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe, was new in the church and was based in Moshaweng. He had only come for the all-night prayer service. Rasedie’s sister Keolebogile Rasedie will always remember him as a kind, respectful, obedient, friendly young man with a sense of humour. “He was sure he was going to make it to Form 4 and last week, he asked me to look for P1200 to buy him Grasshopper shoes,” she said. Church responds Pastor Masina was not at his house when The Midweek Sun team went to Thamaga. His girlfriend and her mother said he had gone to look for money to assist with funeral preparations. However, the mother of the pastor’s girlfriend Mmamotsoko Moalosi said that Pastor Masina should not be involved since he did not give the prophetic instruction for Rasedie to be baptised. “He also did not baptise him. So he is innocent,” she said. The elderly woman said that Rasedie had long seen his own death. “That Friday night, his mother told us that he took a tub and filled it with water and brought in two rods and made a cross and splashed her with the water. “She tells us he also brought a stack of papers saying it was his orbituary and gave her his bedroom keys. Plus, the boy was just singing too much at church that Friday night,” she said. Pastor Masina said in a telephone interview that he could not respond and referred this reporter to church Bishop Nicholas Rakodu who said that they were investigating the incident. “We are still trying to find out what happened, how and why. We will cooperate with the family to dialogue,” he said. The bishop however said that Lucky is not one of his pastors. Actually, he said he does not know him. “I have asked my leaders about him but they all don’t know him. He had just come for moletelo like any other person would do. This is the first incident of its kind in our church,” he said. The church has been in existence for more than 10 years and has branches in Botswana and South Africa.