The Molefhabangwe Shocker

The weeks following the elections have been more of shocking series of events than anything else. First it was the re-appointment of Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe as vice President when a lot of pundits didn’t even give him a single chance to going back and becoming the country’s second in command. Then came the announcement of the speaker of the national assembly which was given to Margaret Nasha, first female speaker in the country’s history which was a great move in the President’s part as a way of empowering women.

The biggest bombshell of all came last week when it was announced that Robert Molefhabangwe has left the Botswana National Front(BNF) where he made his name for the Botswana Democratic Party(BDP) which is the ruling party. In all Molefhabangwe left the BNF a while back when he was expelled from the Party because he publicly expressed an interest in contesting for the position of Party President with Otsweletse Moupo. He was accused of making some uncharitable comments about the quality of the party’s leadership, something that obviously did not go down well with those whom he criticised & the whole BNF leadership. Following the suspension and expulsion of some party members in the past year, the party leadership was said to be under pressure to show evenhandedness, thats why they dealt with Molefhabangwe this way. Immediately after that announcement he revealed that he is looking to find a new political home.

Molefhabangwe rose to the front of politics at BNF when he was member of parliament for Gaborone South West, where he used to keep the executive on their toes with his well researched and well debated motions that won the support of his House colleagues from across the political divide. One of his biggest achievements was when he stood in front of a that big bulldozer in Tsolamosese as the then Minister of Lands, Jacob Nkate was busy demolition houses in the area saying the people had illegally occupied the land. Since that time he became a darling of the people and the media. He served two terms in parliament as a member of the BNF and was hoping to start a third on the other side of this year’s general election where he stood as an independent candidate. Molefhabangwe stood as an independent candidate only to lose to the BDP’s Botsalo Ntuane.

Molefhabangwe is a very talented artist, as a sculptor and painter whose works more than qualify to be part of most art galleries around. He is also a very intelligent legislator who is rumored to speak more than 10 languages, and whenever he took to the Parliament floor, he found it hard to resist the urge to occasionally color his debates with the odd Latin phrase or two. The former MP is also a very religious man as a catholic.

News of his defection to the BDP came as a shock to many of his faithful admirers.He was dismissed by many as a blast from the past before but now the rumourmill has it that he is ear marked for the Gaborone Mayoral Position which he will attain when he becomes a special elected councillor & then he will be challenging Ntuane for the Gaborone South West constituency in 2014. The ruling party have been celebrating his move as a big catch because when he was in the opposition he was a thorn on their side. But whatever happens between now & 2014, dont write out the flamboyant politician popurlaly known as Molf.

The Country’s Second in Command

One of the biggest responsibilities of the President is to select a very good Vice President. The Vice President helps the President fly the government plane so to say. He/She has to be good at communicating with the President in an open way that would bring value to his/her administration. So, far we hope the re-appointment of Lt General Mompati Merafhe will bring results. Lets hope when the President Lt Gen Seretse Khama Ian Khama made this appointment of his former boss at the army knowing very well that their stint together 18 months leading to the elections wasn’t so successful.

Up to now, Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe has had a successful career first as a policeman rising from the rank of constable to assistant commissioner of the police in a record of eleven years. When Botswana started the army in 1977, he was made its first commander with a rank of Major General. He helped steer the boat during troubled times like the attack of Botswana Soldiers by Rhodesian(now Zimbabwe) forces in 1977 when they were ambushed in Lesoma. He was also at the helm during the South African Apartheid agents attack in Gaborone in 1986. He then left the Army in 1989 for politics. He was appointed presidential affairs and public administration minister. He later found his real calling at Foreign Relations and International Cooperation – where he became Botswana’s chief diplomat.

His biggest triumph as the Chief Diplomat came when he led a successful delegation to the Hague in the Netherlands over Sedudu Island in the Chobe District as Botswana & Namibia were at loggerheads over the Island. Both countries had mobilised forces and war looked imminent in the horizon. He showed how diplomatic he can be after the International Court awarded the Island to Botswana when he said, “Nobody has lost. What has won is our ability as Batswana and Namibians to resolve our differences peacefully.”

Now that he has been re-appointed as the country second senior citizen, we just have to hope that this is a good appointment. His first appointment was a bit of a disaster as he failed to do a good job but we always hope that people learn from their mistakes. This, however, is a big vote of confidence on him. The President tasked him with employment creation and poverty eradication strategy which will be coordinated from the Office of the President and to ensure the maximisation of the impact of various programmes and policies that are aimed at bringing dignity to those living in poverty. He brings invaluable experience having been in politics for 20 years or so and having spent more that half of those as a minister.

The Vice Presidency Conundrum

One of the first thing for the president when he takes office  after being sworn in after the election is to choose a capable and good vice president. As we all ready know the Botswana Democratic Party has won the elections with 79% of the votes. Now the time has come for the President to find his deputy. A lifelong allegiance need not be an anachronism. The reasons, beyond a steadfastness, a continued determination to guide and a willingness to treat everybody equal are some of the traits that we are going to require from the new Vice President. The new Vice President will have to provide a robust and balanced advisory role to the Khama administration. So far we are sure that the last 12-18 months or so, the President has been flying his administration plane alone without some help from the vice president even any coordination input.  Basically the president has been flying blind without any proper direction. Obviously the new vice president will have to come in and unite and torn BDP, when Khama was brought in as vice president in 1998 was for the same reason but it looked like they had smoked the peace pipe, only for a little while. Here are a few names that might be front runners for the vice presidency:

Joy Phumaphi – Great choice considering that she has been away from politics since leaving for the United Nations in 2003  as Assistant Director General for Family and Community Health Department at the World Health Organisation. She later moved to the World Bank as Vice President, Human Development. She is an accomplished administrator having struck a big blow to the then President Festus Mogae when she quit her post as the Minister of Health. She had an excellent record then as she is credited with bringing the war against HIV/Aids to the fore & also the distribution of anti-retroviral drugs. She did such a sterling job that her replacements have never been able to come to the party. She is also remembered for raising the assets declaration motion in parliament which has been put on ice since she quit her post. If she comes back, it will be interesting to see if the motion will re-surface again. She could make a comeback as Vice President and either as Minister of Health or Finance as she holds a Master of Science degree in Financial Accounting and Decision Sciences from Miami University, Ohio. She brings a lot of experience to the government. My choice for the vice presidency considering that she doesn’t belong to any factions in the ruling party.

Lt Gen Mompati Merafhe – He was a great minister of foreign affairs but with all his experienced failed dismally in the past 12-18 months when he was President Ian Khama’s vice. He could have done more but he just couldn’t fill the role very well. Considering that the president is a quite person, he could have taken on more of a role as the face of the government but he just could do it. All things came to a stand still when he claimed that 1 or 2 extra judicial killings are not that bad. I personally think he could have phrased the statement different, maybe mentioning something in the line of, “we regret these killings but we will make sure investigations are carried out and the culprits are brought to the courts.” He dented all that reputation he had built with a good job at Foreign affairs. Maybe he should just be taken back to foreign affairs not the vice presidency.

Daniel Kwelagobe – DK would be a good choice if the president wants to put out the faction fires as he belongs to the much marginalised Barata-Phathi faction. This will atleast help quell the fires burning from within the BDP as they felt that the president did them a blow when he suspended Gomolemo Motswaledi. This could go a long way in helping with that. Khama regards him as a great adviser and close family friend. Khama’s father saw a great talent in DK when he plucked him from radio botswana in 1972 and took him to parliament. Lets hope the son will also see what his father saw.

Ponatshego Kedikilwe -  Another man from the marginalised Barata-Phathi faction. He is the only man from the Party to have stood against the mighty of Khama although he lost the Chairmanship of the party then. It would also go a long way in rewarding one of the longest serving administrators in Botswana Politics. He could also help kill the fires of factionalism.

Tshekedi Khama, Ramadeluka Seretse, Kitso Mokaila & the rest – Any of these three for the vice presidency would be a big surprise especially Tshekedi Khama who is the President’s younger brother as he is a new comer to politics. From the rest I am not sure who could be the vice president but politics are an unpredictable game. We will just have to wait and see. There is a fair percentage that the vice president could come from the rest.

Whoever will be vice president is going to have their plate full as they will have to get a hands on approach into the new administration & its not going to be an easy ride.

The ruling party is still dominant

Elections have come and gone, the BDP is still the ruling party. They get another term in office, the next five years belong to them to continue the legacy they have so far built in the past 43 years. They seriously thrashed the opposition with a win of 79% of the majority which equates to 45 constituencies out of 57. In the 2004 general elections, the BDP won 44 of the 57 which means this time around they have gained an extra seat in parliament. The opposition has not changed hands with the BNF still the main opposition party in Parliament but they have lost ground, winning only 6 of the 12 seats held by the opposition whereas in 2004 they held 12 of the 13 seats that were grabbed by the opposition. The biggest winners from this year’s elections are the BCP, they have grabbed a number of council wards and also 5 parliamentary seats compared to just one in 2004. BNF’s problems clearly show that the expulsions and suspensions that they meteed out to members didnt help their cause as it shows with the win of Nehemiah Modubule who won the Lobatse Constituency as an individual (mokoko as they are known).

Now that battle is over the next coming ones will be interesting. Who is Ian Khama as president going to settle for as the vice-president? Is he going to take someone outside politics right now to fill the position? Is he going to go with someone who won the elections recently? Anyway, thats a different article entirely which is going to be next after this one. One more battle would be for the speaker of the national assembly. This is one might turn nasty because different factions of the BDP want different people to fill the positions. Its one to keep an eye on too. Then the most of the thorny issues is going to be who are the special elected members of parliament? Jacob Nkate was scalped in the recent elections, is he getting a comeback as a special elected? All this questions are to be answered in the next few weeks as the president will be walking out as the proper president having been elected by the people. His one & half term was marred by a lot of people saying he wasn’t elected by the people, now that he has, cant wait to see what his proper presidency has instore for us.

The Failed Opposition II

I always wonder whats the use of having a great manifesto on paper if you cant sell those very same ideas verbally. Like all marketers in the world when they sell their products, they have to convince the consumer to buy that product. Just as well politicians have to convince the electorates that they are worth their votes by really convincing them why they are the right person.I would like to set the record that I dont distaste of the opposition but in my eyes they have failed finish & klaar. Statistics are there to support my views. If you can’t sell your ideas to the electorate how do you expect to lead a whole country.

Look at Rre Moupo, his BNF presidency has been a joke let alone a circus, disaster after disaster. If he cant manage his image and affairs, how can he be trusted to manage a whole country? Unless someone shows me something better, the opposition will remain a joke to me. So far members of the party have either been suspended or expelled yet he claims that he wants a majority in parliament, how do expect to win then when you don’t have your first choice in the game? His electorates even dont see him as Parliament material, they didnt vote him back. What does that tell you about him as president of the main opposition party right now?

All the opposition have done so far is say the BDP have failed but then tell me what they failed at doing and how are you going to amend that? Look at Barack Obama when he was runnig for office, he he didnt go in saying the Republicans have failed but he had motions in place to support him – he set out motions of raising taxes on the rich, reforming healthcare, withdrawing from Iraq, softening the sanctions on Cuba, and boosting the number of student grants which marks a far bolder vision than previous administrations. If the opposition also wants to get my vote they should come to me with a clear mandate of what they are going to change when they come into power. The fact that they are so obsessed with the ruling party is also a cause for concern, one would wonder do they even plans and a cause of action once they become the ruling party? They wouldn’t make a speech without mentioning the BDP. People would say the BCP is a safer bet but I dont think so. They come from the same school of thought as the BNF, they have the same ideologies so what would make them different from the BNF? They come from the same socialist democracy school of thought & the fact that the BCP was born from BNF doesn’t even sit well with me. The founding fathers were hardcore BNF members in the 90′s before the split in 1998. They were part of the cult following of Dr Kenneth Koma. Their president, Gil Saleshando has been rejected twice by the electorate, first in 1999 and then in 2004. What does that tell you about him? People don’t see it in him to represent them in Parliament as an MP, why would they vote him as president then?

Some might say that parties are not playing on a level field when it comes ot finaces and stuff along those lines? How did Obama get into office again? Money from donations, fundraisers and volunteer-ism. People volunteered because they felt that it was time for change and in the process they managed to wrestle the government from the Republicans. Look at BNF, when I look at its top brass, I see lawyers(Moupo, Magama, Sebego etc), lecturers(Letshabo, Mhaswa etc) and other respectable members of society, very highly educated. Can they really fail to raise money for the party? Cant they come up with ideas that can generate money for the party to give them a better campaigning platform? Don’t they have connections from abroad? The money that Obama had was from fundraising and donations, thats how he got to the white house. If they really say there is no political education, why dont they start it at grass roots then they can convince the elctorate that we are worth your vote? Make it your mandate to change the political landscape and not wait for a miracle. IF (its a big if )you want people to “understand” politics then start teaching them as early as 2010 then u might make inroads in 2014.

Another example would be the Democratic Alliance(DA) in South Africa, a so-called white minority party has been making inroads in the ANC territory even in rural Nothern Cape, Natal and the Eastern Cape. How is that possible? They dont get much funding from the government. Donations, fundraisers and volunteering were the order of the day. They have managed to get blacks on board who were fed up with the ANC and they have become the main opposition in parliament. Why can’t the opposition do that in Botswana and stop moarning about the unnecessary. The Opposition also gets support from the private media which levels the playing field with the BDP using state media. There are a lot of independent media platforms in Bots which could cover the news as much as the state organs in the country. How many households have TV in Botswana? How many households have radio? I would say the radios outnumber the tv’s much which means there is a clear platform for them to give BDP a fight. Newspapers!? Mmegi ran an article last time when they were endorsing Moupo, he won, so they do have a platform in that regard too.

They are a lot of things I can mention in this article but these are just some of the few I have picked. Explain your mandate to the ordinary being in the street then u might have it in you to challenge the status quo. The BDP doesnt have to say much, the track record is there and it speaks for itself, so its up to the opposition to raise the bar & challenge the BDP. IF raise enough points that make sense, why not sell them to your electorates then get that majority you will need to go to Parliament and even be the President? The opposition is a joke and the BDP machine doesn’t seem to be coming to an abrut stop anytime soon. So, i think its best we leave it at that. Sam did it all for me when he said, “Rather the devil you know than that the one you don’t.”

The Failed Opposition

The Botswana opposition has really failed for 43 years to challenge the Botswana Democratic Party.They have a tendency of shootign themselves in the foot whenever we are looking at elections. How many times have the Botswana National Front(BNF) had splits? It was heralded as the powerful main opposition in the 90′s? So, far we have seen the birth of the Botswana Congress Party(BCP) in 1998 & then the birth of New Democratic Front(NDF) in 2003. It looks like every new party come from this socialist ideological party. The party used to be the bedrock of upcoming young politician who were cult followers of their founding father the USSR educated Dr Kenneth Koma.

The opposition don’t bring any new ideas to the Botswana political arena. So, far all they have done or say is say how the current Botswana government led by the Botswana Democratic Party have failed to provide better education, health, jobs and infrastructure. When the Botswana Democratic Party took over after independence in 1966, Botswana was the fourth poorest country in the world. They immediately faced challenges of droughts and femine. They managed to steer the ship through this hard times & eventually there was the discovery of diamonds that helped them a lot. The fact that they managed to share this with the rest of the country is a miracle in itself as a lot of African governments have a tendency of stealing the country’s wealth and stashing all this money in foreign bank accounts.

When the Sir Seretse Khama led government took over, only a small percentage of Batswana were educated. One of their main targets was the provision of basic education as they guaranteed all students ten years up to junior certificate. So far the results have been there for all to see, at-least 90% of the population can read and write. If you were to ask the opposition what they will do different they can’t give you a straight answer, they look up to the sky because they cant provide us with sufficient answers. Although the was a re-introduction of school fees in 2006, the government still provides full scholarships with living expenses to any Botswana citizen for their university studies.

How many governments especially in Sub-Saharan Africa have tackled the HIV/Aids scorn like the Botswana government have done, especially in Africa? Even the resource rich South Africa didn’t do it until almost close to 3 million people had lost their lives. There is no better provision of health care than fighting HIV/Aids with free anti retro-viral drugs which can be found at a lot of health care centers throughout the country. Which makes one wonder, what would the opposition do more than that? Most of rural Botswana have health posts & other areas have mobile clinics that visit the areas atleast twice a week whilst in some parts of Africa people spend months on end without seeing a doctor let alone a nurse. What are the further improvements that the opposition offer to the health care?

So far the opposition have been promising that they will build community malls and provide more jobs as the money from our foreign reserves needs to be spent for the improvement of Batswana lives. The current president, Ian Khama is doing exactly that and they are already complaints that its the misuse of state coffers. When they build this malls, where will the money come from? Which National Development Plans will they be using? They should learn to come up with better practical ideas that can be implemented. They talk about raising money for pensioners, where will that extra deficit come from or which department are they going to cut it from? You cant just criticize someone else’s point yet you dont have anything to offer. For every problem you see, they must be a solution. Even the leader of the main opposition Otsweletse Moupo won’t be coming back to parliament after the elections because people in his constituency don’t have confidence in his abilities. If people in his constituency don’t believe him to be a good leader, how should a whole country do? His recent interview sums it up nicely that he doesn’t have it in him to lead:

BTV REPORTER: Rre Moupo fa party ya gago e ka fenya ditlhopho ka di 16,re solofele eng mo go wena. ( Mr Moupo, If your party wins the elections on the 16^th, what should be expected from you?)

MR MOUPO: Ke a go tswelela ke dira gore lentswe la kganetso la utlwala ko Palamenteng(I am going to continue being the voice of the opposition in parliament)

BTV REPORTER: Yang jaanong Rre Moupo ka o tla bo o tsere puso?(How Mr Moupo, since you will be the government?)

The opposition have been in serious decline and I have come to realise that the opposition don’t offer Batswana much. Then Batswana go to the polls with the notion that why fix it if it ain’t broken. But then do you believe that the opposition can offer something differen’t? Some people believe that opposition parties are a joke, do you agree with them? Could the failure of the opposition to unite also be a factor?

The Pilot

As promised a while back when i left the general blogging world that i will be back, this is my comeback piece. I have also been busy with work and also with my blog at www.sportsleader.co.za which has gained quite a following. This is the platform that i will be ranting my views from my point on Botswana. I know that in the process i will burn a few toes and make enemies but at the end of the day,my point will be out there. My point will be largely based on what i read from the news and what i deem of interest to my readers.

I return with a different view on issues from Botswana and one thing you will have to understand is that my point will be mine only and nobody else’s. If i make a point in this blog and it appears somewhere else it might be coicidental and it wouldn’t mean i would be associated with the individual or company that made that remark. I will also try to write fairly but that can be a hard process sometimes.

Botswana is a great country that i hold dearly and will always love, its home and as they say, there is no place like home. I might work in a different country at the moment but i hope to be back one day to participate in moving the country forward. One thing we should be grateful about this very beautiful country of ours is that democracy has been there all along and the diamond discovery was done after the British have left Botswana thinking it was just wasteland with nothing much to offer. As the former president put it Sir Ketumile Masire in his book, Memoirs of an African Democrat, the British told them when they requested for Independence that they were either very stupid or very brave. Bravery they had but not stupidity, as we have seen with its rise from the fourth poorest country in the world in the 1960′s to be Africa’s beacon of success this millenium that has been dubbed “Africa’s Success Story”.

The success has come ofcourse but with a lot of suffering for some of its inhabitants. 43 years on, there are a lot of people who leave under extreme porverty, under a dollar a day which is one of the biggest challenges for the government should try to redress urgently. Billion and billions have been coming in from diamond revenue over the years and the foreign reserves are standing in good order, maybe its high time that money is brought into the country to come and do good for the people of Botswana. So, far we have seen results with the establishment of the Government Internship programme which places graduates at different institutes within the government so that they can gain the necessary experience whilst they are looking for employment. Instead of them spending time wandering the streets, they get to do somethign that can prove to be invaluable for the long term. I hope this is the beginning of a very long journey that will go far. I also hope i will attract a different demographic of visitors from all spheres of life.

I am not a journalist, just somebody who is passionate about the web and the voice it can offer to the voiceless. Some people call us bloggers. Anyone who has something important is welcome to contribute.