Rampholo Molefhe
31 March 2008
opinion
President Festus Mogae's first stop at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on his way to the highest office was, as almost all appointments are at that level, a compromise between hard attitudes on opposite ends of the organisational spectrum at the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
It was popularly believed then that retired Lt General Mompati Merafhe would have had the Vice Presidency, had it not been for his perceived bellicose manner on his dramatic entry into politics. He started on the wrong footing right from the very beginning, when he was thoroughly licked by the then BDP chairman Peter Mmusi, at the Palapye congress, after he was warned that his chances were even slimmer against Secretary General, Daniel Kwelagobe, in the early 1990s.
He was to confess privately on the way to opening the Botswana Journalists Association (BOJA) workshop on 'press freedom' that "I would not have gotten myself involved in this if I had known that this is the way they do things".
Merafhe, like a soldier, was not impressed with the level of respect for duty and discipline in the discharge of assignments.
Ponatshego Kedikilwe, counted among the handful of Botswana pioneers in the field of economy, had also presented himself as something of a robust counter-puncher, following in the footsteps of Kebatlamang Morake, against newly elected Leader of the Opposition, Kenneth Koma.
Mogae, in Ketumile Masire's eyes, was the more conciliatory of the two among others who might have contended, and landed the appointment which would, in the scheme of BDP things, automatically make him the next President.
Masire was, in the eyes of the party youth then led by a more active Jacob Nkate, with Tebelelo Seretse and Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri as 'senior' members, of the old stock that was inadequately prepared to take on the new challenges of the 21st Century globalisation and the craftiness of Koma, who according to BDP legend, should never have been permitted to go to Parliament. Seretse had warned so before he departed, the party veterans said.
Apparently, the BNF was cheering for David Magang, whom, they believed would make a weaker adversary. There was still room for a cabinet reshuffle that would make almost anything possible, but it did not happen. It was evident though that it was only the fact of her being a woman and Ikalanga in origin that disqualified the workaholic, Gaositwe Chiepe from qualifying as President.
Mogae, emerged the golden-eyed boy of the BDP in the 1990s, using that position to rebuke the Barolong farmers who wanted debt relief at the National Development Bank on account of bankruptcy, drought, lack of financial security and the other traditional reasons for failure.
His admirers were soon disappointed at the softening of the 'iron fist' that saw him yield to political pressure, seeking round-about means to offer party colleagues and errant civil servants a financial dispensation that did not measure well against his good sense of economics.
However, he did something to lift the threshold for taxpayers, also abolishing the local government tax, which proved too expensive to collect for its contribution to government revenues. He was tight fisted and became famous for economic cliches, among them 'we must tighten our belts', and so on, even as those measures seemed to apply only to labour, though they did not seem to apply to senior civil servants, the parliamentarians and captains of the parastatals.
Mogae rose to the helm because of economic know how, and the need - as was acknowledged by Masire as early as 1986 - for representation at the decision making venues on the international playing field. He had to travel.
Masire should have advised, following the Schlemner report to the BDP going towards the 1999 general election, that Ian Khama should be roped in to 'keep the home fires burning' as Mogae campaigned abroad.
To this day, many blame Mogae for his style of briefcase governance which distanced him from the BDP's most important constituency, the elderly rural women. That, however, was not his political mission.
His was to lead the negotiations for the Southern African Customs Union, Southern African Development Community, Cotonou agreements, and multifarious bilateral and regional trade agreements with the European Union, lenders in the Middle East banks, the African Development Bank, the IMF and the World Bank in order to secure Botswana's interests, under conditions much more difficult to negotiate than under Seretse or Masire.
The benefits of work at the international level only became apparent when he brought the Anti-retroviral (ARVs) home to combat AIDS, even if there will be questions about access of Botswana to research findings of the 'friendly' organisations that have assisted with drugs.
The cynics who give him credit for his efforts in the battle against AIDS will also question whether the pandemic was also exploited to cover up for drastic failures in other development undertakings which should have happened in spite and despite, or alongside the battle against the spread of HIV.
There has also been celebration of the President's efforts at upliftment of the women folk. It would appear that it was not Mogae's presidency which contributed to the near equalisation of female-male access to formal education at all levels. The trend had already been established before his ascendancy to that role. Neither has there been a marked improvement in pastoral farming - a sector where women play a significant part - resulting from Mogae initiatives.
The balance in women in professional jobs and management positions in the civil service are not entirely the product of Mogae's deliberate policies, but rather, the outcome of the broad sweep of the internal drive of the capitalist mode of economy to build a middle class of whatever kind that will serve as both consumer and a buffer against political radicalisation of the working classes. It will also pay tax, side by side with big business, to further enrich government and enable it to achieve its capitalist agenda. In the more civilised countries, it will create ideas for development.
In effect, Mogae's achievement is limited only to placing a select group of women out of the elite in the more visible positions in the state bureaucracy and political leadership of the BDP.
That should not be regarded as a slight on Mogae's achievements. His achievements could only evolve out of the policies of the Botswana Democratic Party and its programme for national development.
Evidently, as the BDP sought modernisation of the 'capitalist' economy, it was hampered by the compelling need to appeal to feudal, perhaps even undemocratic, institutions of governance to retain political supremacy and to stall the advance of the opposition.
The army, and the Kings are by any measure, the most backward institutions of governance that mitigate against democratisation of the process of development. Both operate by force and by impingement on civil liberties, often under the guise of protecting 'the national interest'.
The presidencies of Masire and Mogae signalled a step away from feudal considerations of social rank in the administration of matters of the nation. They were neither chiefs nor soldiers. They were compelled to rely on their brains, socialisation and 'street smarts' to execute the mandate that the BDP gave them.
The return to reliance on feudal authority, and regimentation of the army type, in order to rule, can only mean that Mogae reneged on the process of modernisation of Botswana's democracy, and perhaps set it further back than when Seretse Khama ruled after publicly revoking his chieftainship, though he did manipulate it privately for political advantage.
Forty-two years later, the country reverts to the false premise that royalty and crude capitalism can promote meaningful development for the majority of Batswana!
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