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Botswana: Modise's New Political Home
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The Voice (Francistown)
22 April 2008
Posted to the web 22 April 2008
Francinah Baaitse
Francistown
John Modise is back in politics. The once famous involuntary resident of 'No Man's Land', Modise, 81, would be contesting the Lobatse constituency come 2009. He will stand under the ticket of his newly formed party, Botswana Tlhoko Tiro Organisation (BTTO).
Tsholofelo Modise, his eldest son, will also try his luck in Gaborone Central under the same party.
To many, the Modise family brings memories of political raw and deportations between members of that family and the Botswana government. Modise Senior made international headlines in the 1980s, when the then Bophuthatswana Bantustan government of Manyane Mangope deported him, and the Botswana government of Ketumile Masire refused him. He was then left stranded in the unclaimed territory between the two Ramatlabamas between the borders of South Africa and Botswana.
However, Tsholofelo maintains his party is not formed from frustration and bitterness owing to what the family went through with the government of Botswana. "I want to set Botswana free as I have set my family free," said Modise Junior. For the BTTO, this is the time for the socio-economic and political liberation of the people, where unemployment, poverty, unequal representation and distribution will be addressed as a matter of urgency and priority. "The nation is being looted and its people are being disinherited of their land rights, rendering Batswana as second class citizens in their own land," said Tsholofelo.
He argues that the formation of BTTO has been necessitated by the country's social, economic and political problems, which manifest themselves in the form of unequal representation, non-participation in political life, unequal distribution of national wealth and the non-respect for the rule of law. He cites the bitterness experienced by his family as examples for the lack of respect for the rule of law. "Ian talks about dignity, but if he is a wise man he should restore the Modise family's dignity that his father destroyed. He should restore it with immediate effect."
The recount is that his grand father, who was a political activist, Frank Modise, was deported from Botswana to South Africa in 1969 after he was declared a non-citizen of this country. He was also a political activist in South Africa. He died in the United Kingdom and Tsholofelo said his death is still a mystery. "We wrote to the Botswana government to bring his remains here for proper burial." His father was also deported in 1978 under the same conditions as the grandfather. He stayed in no man's land, as neither Bophuthatswana nor Botswana wanted to own him. He only came back to Botswana after the African Commission intervened.
His mother then fled to Zambia where she sought refuge and later transferred to Kenya as a refugee. Since she was also actively involved in politics, she went to South Africa, her home country, after Nelson Mandela took over government in 1994. She was later to die from a stroke.
He also said during his parent's absence, the Botswana government stigmatized him and his siblings as they kept on receiving threats of repatriation. It is his contention that they lost better education chances owing to the stigma.
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He, however, says education is not about a classroom and academics, but life itself.
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