Fish Keitseng

Ntwaesele Thatayone "Fish" Keitseng OLS (21 January 1923– 28 March 2005) was a Motswana trade union activist and politician. Keitseng was one of the defendants of the 1956 Treason Trial in South Africa. Following his expulsion from South Africa, Keitseng organized a network of safe routes for thousands of African National Congress activists heading north. He was also a prominent leader of the opposition inside Botswana.

Early life Fish Keitseng was born in Gangwaketse in 1923, the first son in the family. Whilst in jail for the Newclare riots, Keitseng was charged as one of the defendants in the Treason Trial. Many prominent ANC leaders were hosted by Keitseng at his safe-house in Lobatse, including Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. In October 1962 Keitseng was travelling through Southern Rhodesia with a group of 26 ANC youth activists (including Thabo Mbeki), heading towards Tanganyika. The group was arrested and were detained and tortured for six weeks. They were then transported out of the country, to be handed over to the South African authorities. However, Keitseng managed to smuggle out information about the movement to fellow activists. They, in turn, managed to persuade the British District Commissioner of Palapye to block the train and release the captives. In the same month the ANC held a clandestine congress in Keitseng's Lobatse safe-house. This meeting formally endorsed the new line of armed struggle against the Apartheid regime. Only once did Keitseng stand as a candidate in an election, being elected as councilor of Gaborone for the period of 1989 to 1993. Messages from the presidents of Botswana and South Africa were read. The event was covered by the SABC as well as Botswana media. A statement issued from the Office of the Presidency of Botswana in response to Keitseng's passing commented that "hrough such local heroes like the late Comrade Fish the nations of Southern Africa today stand together as a region with a common soul and future destiny."