DEAR EDITOR–I recently learned the meaning of the word hypocrite - it is someone who kills both his parents and then pleads orphanage as a mitigating factor when being sentenced. And I don’t intend to use this word ever again...and not in this article.
The government of Botswana recently pronounced that it does not recognize Robert Mugabe as the president of Zimbabwe as he was not elected in free and fair elections. The question that sprung to my mind was, who on earth said somebody becomes president because he was elected in a free and fair election?
Even members of parliament are not elected in a free and fair election. Who forgets how Gomolemo Motswaledi and Botsalo Ntuane were forced to shift from where they wanted to contest, and identify constituencies elsewhere to pave way for the untouchables of the ruling party?
A case study is our own President, was he elected by the people of Botswana in a free and fair election? Who observed whether the process by which he ascended into power was free and fair? And where does he get the moral high ground to think he can dictate to another president how he should ascend to the high office.
Does anybody remember anything about transparent ballot boxes that are to be used by SADC member states? Has Botswana complied? What about counting ballots at polling stations, is Botswana in compliance of the requirement? Botswana thinks democracy in Zimbabwe tarnishes the word democracy!
Now, the government, in its quest to instill discipline in Botswana, has decided to impose a 70% increment on the price of alcoholic drinks. The question on everybody’s mind is: how did the government consult on this initiative? I mean, as it turns out not even the most important stakeholder, KBL, was consulted. And we say our government is democratic!
If any consultations were done, what advice did the Bank of Botswana give to the President regarding inflation that is ever on the rise? What role did the Central Statistics office play in this decision regarding (un)employment figures? What role did the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture play in this decision regarding the multitudes of youths employed in sectors directly or indirectly dealing with alcoholic beverages? Or the government just does not care?
Rre Masitara once boasted at a rally gore o tsene sekolo ka madi a khadi, yet these same people want to deny others a chance gore ba tsenngwe sekolo ka madi a bojalwa.
Some parents have been using proceeds from Chibuku to educate and feed their children yet without any consultation, the government wants to kill all these businesses.
In their minds, [cabinet or president] want to punish liquor drinkers but they are so blinded by their prejudices that they forget to look at the consequences of the 70% decision. Is the increase in petrol prices deterring motorists from driving around? People just adjust their budgets to accommodate these drastic changes with the resultant poverty to all concerned.
Is anybody not seeing the creeping in of dictatorship? After students who is next on the line. Workers?
The Mmegi of Thursday captured it correctly when they said it started with the mobile companies, next was the brewery, the media is very soon to follow suit, and which business is next? We can only guess. But the pattern has been seen a while back by Rampholo Molefhe.
He saw the government usurping the role of the music union and alas the president launched government-sponsored cultural competitions. We, the public, are being gullible to think this is a gesture that promotes culture; it is going to kill BOMU and our culture such that by the time we realize that artists are being turned into government praise singers it will be too late.
Then it was again a government-sponsored constituency league. BFA now is going to administer a league based on political boundaries. A sport with political leanings exists only in Botswana.
The opposition, though voicing its concerns, is just talk and not actively countering Khama’s actions. Press conferences are just that, for the media to report on issues discussed therein, but how does the public get engaged?
I think the opposition has a habit of sending the media to fight its wars. The public should be engaged with vigor and not just empty talk at press conferences. The opposition should, by now, be proactively making their positions known. And they should be having shadow ministers, not rushing to form their own intelligence, like the BNF was reported to be pondering - to spy on its members!
It is also reported in Mmegi that the Chief Justice used his position to influence his junior, a magistrate to change the sentence of his relative. It is quite regrettable that this incident has passed and the law society is silent. What happened to the likes of activists like Duma Boko, who happen to be leaders of the law society? Does anybody remember how the chief justice once boasted of being a personal friend of the then President Mogae? Did this not ring any alarm bells? Now the chief justice tries to defend his actions and the question that needs his answer is: is it usual for him to act in that manner in all cases including those where his relatives are not concerned? Can anybody call a magistrate or a judge of the high court in the same manner?
A few weeks ago, I was taken aback by people, including government officials, who accused the Sunday Standard of sensational reporting after it reported that Botswana was preparing for war. In the Mmegi of Friday 25th July, a whole ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation made utterances to the effect that if the Zimbabwean negotiating parties fail to reach an agreement on a government, there is going to be a civil war in Zimbabwe. Is this statement not what we call sensational talk, if at all there is sensational reporting? This minister is not just bluffing because whatever he says has to be scrutinized. Is it information that was passed to him by the intelligence agency? Or he is just instilling fear in those that have vested interests in Zimbabwe or worse still, may be this is the war that Botswana is purported to be preparing for.
I have digressed…
…My point was that the government of Botswana has no moral authority to talk on presidential elections because it has a president who never went through the due process of law, as provided for in the constitution of Botswana. The president of Botswana did not even go through the formalities required by the constitution of his party. In his own party’s constitution there is also, just like the constitution of Botswana, nothing about automatic succession. As per the constitution of the ruling party, there is no president as of now.
This is because Khama was never elected by any structure of the party to become the leader [president] of the BDP. It was not automatic that when Masire stepped down Mogae became president of the BDP. And it was not automatic for Khama to take over the presidency of the party when Mogae stepped down. This I have noticed escaped the attention of legal experts and our self-styled political analysts. The question to ask therefore is in what capacity does Khama sit on the central committee of the BDP? Ex -officio? This is possible given a similar scenario in South Africa where the sitting state president is not a member of the National Executive Committee of the ruling party. By becoming president of the Republic of Botswana, one does not automatically become the president of the BDP…unless the constitution of the BDP was changed to create such a scenario without consulting the wider membership of the BDP. Does this then not call for the government to make the constitution of Botswana part of the educational curriculum that every Motswana should go through?
And now we have a situation where the president of the Republic goes around making pronouncements that may later become a nightmare for the ruling party. Le gale ka Moupo a sa rekisege. BCP on the other hand is no threat to the BDP, that’s the reason why they are never going to say the BDP has planted people in it to destabilize it. But the moment you hear those word…mosi ke molelo betsho!
Jinda ra Madzara • snrs67@yahoo.com Subject: Bathos' Hypocricy Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:48:04 • The writer of the article may be an admirer or great fun of the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, but not so the millions of Zimbabwe who have been orphaned, maimed, killed, murdered, denied their choices. His case against the Batswana political leadersdership is better dealt with elsewhere. We have not heard an uproar concerning the the situation in Botswana. The elevation of President Ian Khama has not orphaned innocent Motswanas. I hope you get the point of the issues concerning Zimbabwe.
OCC • N/a Subject: N/a Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:53:13 • The main thrust of this article is shocking. On what planet does the author hail from? It is absurd that the one tries to advance an ideology in the negative with the hope of getting a positive outcome. The fact that some politicians or presidents for that matter make it to public offices through disputed polls is neither here nor there. Zimbabweans expects much higher standards than that. Zimbabwe is a fully signed up member of SADC and therefore bound by its peer review mechanism. Botswana is well within its sovereign right not to recognise the outcome of the poll of June 27, given that by all accounts the elections were deemed to have failed to meet the electoral bench mark set by SADC. Its heartening that there are some regional leaders in our midst that are prepared to defend democratic values. I for one applaud Khama for calling a spade a spade. There is too much regional brotherhood based on cronyism and pseudo-Pan African values to the detriment of continent achieving its new millennium development goals.
Weganda • artmat2003@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Changamire Dombo Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:03:32 • If you agree with the fact that leaders are not necessarily elected the why does President Khama shout and say Mugabe is illegitimate. What bussiness does he have in the affairs of Zimbabwe. He should keep quiet and concentrate on tryinng to rescue his country from the grip of the west if at all he is a patriotic leader otherwise he should just enjoy his presidency while it lasts.
proud motswana • n/a Subject: hypocrisy Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:49:57 • dear Mr Montsho
1)If you see thousands of Batswana fleeing during elections then you know we are democratic.
2)zim refugees here agree with us that alcohol is killing us (I like them because they like us)
3)BDP members are not complaining about their party constitution unlike the zim case where Zims are complaining
4) FIFA is strict about gov involvement believe they would fire us if we did anything bad. We just plan to beat you guys.
5) BDP is not perfect but Moupo's BNF is worse. a true dictator. How does one be the leader of the opposition and lose a parliamentary bye election.
Ranga • n/a Subject: Abel Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:34:47 • Abel, I personally know Ian Taylor. The irony is that he supervises a PhD student from Botswana. He has published several articles on Zimbabwe. His recent publication - 2008 - is on Sino-Africa relations. Botswana may not be perfect, however, this doesn't mean that the issue it is raising about Zimbabwe does not make sense. Logicians talk of you too fallacy. This fallacy is committed when it is concluded that a person's claim is false because what a person says is inconsistent with his/her actions. e.g. a smoker asks you to stop smoking as this has negative effects on your health. What do you do? Unokwira pamusoro pechuru kana pemba, then you shout he is a hyprocrite. He smokes saka hapana zvaanondiudza about stopping smoking without analyzing the claim the person makes.
Changamire Dombo • ChangamireDombo@rocketmail.com Subject: It Pains Me. Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:03:46 • It really does, do people not know that politicians need not necessarily get into positions of power and authority through elections.
And, what a joke ... where on earth do people vote for Chiefs? You just have to be blue-blooded for that.
When Laurent Kabila was assasinated, did his son not replace him without an election?
Gordon Brown is in Office at # 10 without an election.
Somewhere in the Koreas, the Leaders re-cycle themselves within the family.
Elections are not the norm the world over to get into power, that is a fact!
As in all other spheres of life, appointments can be made and these are quite legal too.
Jesus appointed His Disciples and God through His Prophets allowed for the anointment of Kings.
Now, try telling me there should have been elections then.
Wise up and move forward.
Abel • abel.mudi@yahoo.com Subject: Bots democracy Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:00:25 • For those who did not know. Ian Khama was a paramount chief (not elected) before he wasretired from the army to be appointed to be vice president(not elected) then replaced Mogae using automatic succession (again not elected) so as you can see this chap was never elected by a single person on any day. The person who wrote this article was deported, so much for press freedom that they ask for in Zim. http://www.mg.co.za/article/2005-03-11-botswana-no-model-for-africa
MrK • bannie2020@hotmail.com Subject: Hypocrisy Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:23:24 • To the writer,
Killing your parents and asking the court to have mercy on a poor orphan is just an example of hypocrisy, not the actual meaning of the word.
Another example would be accusing a politician of being arrogant, after you have ignored a congressional subpeona, which would land most people in prison (Barack Obama vs Karl Rove).
So please use the word hypocrisy a lot, especially in the context of for instance George Bush condemning the democratic content of elections in Zimbabwe, when he himself was appointed to the presidency by the judges his daddy installed on the Supreme Court, and stealing the elections in Florida and Ohio.
Now that's hypocrisy.
n/a • n/a Subject: If this is True then Why the holier than thou attitude? Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:25:42 • Well, this is certainly one side of the story that I never knew. If this is true about Botswana then why all this noise about democracy in Zimbabwe? I certainly wonder. Please can someone out there tell me this is not true.
Holier than Thou sintiyo?
Changamire Dombo • ChangamireDombo@rocketmail.com Subject: Kutonga Dzevamwe Manje. Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:04:10 • Here is one good example of a Motswana boozer without a plan.
First and foremost, alcohol is not a basic human need.
Secondly, 99% of the drinkers do not do so in moderation, they binge and end up fighting, maiming and killing each other on the roads, engage in unwise beer-cheer social activities and then retire with a host of alcohol related diseases in old age which they will obviously want to have treated free of charge in Gov't hospitals.
A Gov't is not for a day and is aware of the ills of such consumption. By curtailing such behaviour a Gov't clearly shows it has a Master Plan for its citizens who fail to look after themselves. By increasing the prices, the Gov't is simply saying that please take it easy, slow down on this killer and spend wisely on the basic necessities.
This guy is funny, he laments for alcohol and petrol and not food. Kujaidzwa chaiko uku kuri pachena semhuno!
About your Internal Politics, that I will leave for you and your other fellow Motswanas to sort out as brothers and sisters.
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