Mangope appears in his pyjamas and dressing gown, and his son and his wife Rosemary are there in the room. Mangope then says ‘Look, I hear you, simple. On Tuesday I will address the assembly of Bop. Tuesday evening, I will go on radio and then I am ready.’ Pik was about to agree when I said, ‘No. You have lost control, your administration is over, we are going to look into the matter but it’s over. No meeting of the legislature, no radio, you stay here.’

That is when Rosemary turns around in Tswana and basically she says, ‘The shots are being called by Mac’. Mangope turns around to Pik and he says, ‘You know you and I go so far back, we have been like brothers. I didn’t know that one day you would come here and take orders from Maharaj.’ That’s when General Meiring had to give the instructions to Mangope: ‘You are now under protective custody in Motswedi. You will not address meetings, you will not go out, it’s for your protection that you will stay here.’

We then went back to Mmabatho late that night. The TEC management was waiting there. The meeting started and we presented a report to say that Mangope has been removed from power, no debate.