Ryder Gabathuse and Siki Motshwari
26 June 2009
opinion
Francistown — Without any shadow of doubt, these must be trying times for Ian Khama's presidency. Lately, Khama has been receiving widespread criticism from different quarters, including from some sections of his own party.
At times like these, a leader needs to benefit from good advice. One needs it first dispel the myth that Khama is the first president to find himself in an imbroglio of this magnitude. Since the attainment of our sovereignty in 1966, the presidency of Botswana has always been a hot seat.
Each of Khama's predecessors has had his own challenges, including his father, Seretse Khama. What may be different could be the manner in which the four men thus far have conducted themselves when confronted with difficult issues.
The incumbent President is lucky because some of the problems he is grappling with have historical precedents. All that the president has to do is tap into the experiences of his predecessors.
To drive the argument home, we shall endeavour to draw lessons from each of Khama's predecessors. Despite the fact that Seretse Khama enjoyed almost universal acceptance among Batswana, he was not spared being subjected to harrowing tests. At independence, Sir Seretse was given a cold shoulder by some of his fellow African nationalists on account of the 'stigma' of his inherited status of bogosi. "The view of Seretse Khama among nationalist leaders was far from complimentary. Khama and his government were sell-outs to colonialism," according to renowned historian, Professor Thomas Tlou in his work, Seretse Khama -1921-1980.
The Botswana Democratic Party that he co-founded was stigmatised as a party of chiefs and whites. Here at home, it was ironic that the very same chiefs, considered the driving force behind the BDP, snubbed it from the time of its inception. The Bakgatla regent Mmusi Pilane, at the instigation of Bathoen II, turned down a request by Seretse to hold its inaugural meeting in Mochudi. The cold reception Seretse was met with was a serious test of character for him. But he kept his calm. He relocated to a different venue (the morula tree near the Gaborone train station) but never saw himself as a victim of conspiracy. Instead, he launched a vigorous campaign locally and abroad. Seretse's forthrightness and oratory proved handy in the crusade.
If there is a lesson Ian could learn from his father, it is that of looking seriously into the question of marketing himself and his novel ideas. Public support is not a given; it is earned. It is never an event but a process. Like his father, Ian must learn to know when to act and articulate issues that require a statesmanlike approach. The issue of the killing of John Kalafatis, is somewhat a replica of that of the killing of Nicholas Love, a young Briton, by a contingent of the then fledgling Botswana Defence Force (BDF).
Love, together with two other white companions, who were suspected of carrying out subversive activities, met their fate when they attempted to escape arrest. The incident happened at about the same time when 15 BDF soldiers were killed in an ambush by Rhodesian forces. There was so much hype about the deaths of the three whites as the international press went beserk, directing much of the flak at Seretse. Even the pariah of the world, apartheid South Africa, made a meal out of the situation, telling the world of the hypocrisy of Botswana - a country that pretends to be the paragon of virtue and a shining example of democracy.
The British press and its government attempted to force an apology from Seretse and to have him meet with Love's family. But typical of him, Seretse kept his calm and stood his ground. He emphasised his absolute faith in the rule of law: "I am not suggesting one little bit that a parent should not be concerned about the death of his child - I would be too if my child were killed, I am as sorry for them as I am sorry for Mr Love." Whilst he refused to make any commitment before investigations were complete, he empathised with Love's family.
Ian must take solace in the reality that retired presidents, Sir Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae, also had their own share of controversy and media bashing. We have heard how Masire nearly molested a journalist for consistently portraying him in a bad light. He was also once referred to as "the shrinking president" and was almost accused of corruption for his alleged interest in a company doing business with government in the North South Water Carrier project. That the two leaders survived these ordeals should be a source of inspiration and strength for Ian.
By his own admission, the President says his relationship with the media is not cosy, thanks to the recently promulgated Media Practitioners Act. The media holds that the law tramples upon its freedoms while the government thinks the law will do the nation and the media a world of good. There is a perception that the media law was enacted before sufficient debate. The fact of Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi being the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology does not help the situation. She has adopted a very uncompromising stand, which is really costing her principal, Ian. If I were Ian, I would re-deploy Venson-Moitoi and bring on board someone more open and amenable to new ideas.
Another candidate for redeployment would be Ramadeluka Seretse, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security. While capable, he is a close cousin of the Presidents and his sense of fairness will always be suspect when it comes to defending the President. In the Kalafatis affair, no matter how hard he tried to state his position, Ramadeluka did not succeed. The President must engage the media. When returning from international assignments, it would do his image a lot of good if he fielded questions from the media.
The visit to Singapore would be a good starting point.
But to his credit, President Khama is the most decisive and confident so far. The nation appreciates the new business-like atmosphere he has injected into the public service.
Before his ascendancy to the high office, there was a public outcry about the existence of 'deadwood' in the public service.
The incumbent President does not shy away from making presidential interventions to rid the country of deadwood. In all fairness, Khama broke new ground by making swift cabinet reshuffles and responding to the plight of the downtrodden as evidenced by the recent overnight restoration of water to the people of Tsolamosese.
On the international front, he has restored Botswana's voice and respectability by breaking away from the discredited silent diplomacy and publicly reprimanded the dictatorial regimes of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Sudan's Omar El Bashir.
But whilst Khama's stature is rising abroad, the reverse is true on the home front. The President should be reminded of the words of his father to Masire, his Vice President: "Quett," he said, "we are nothing outside unless we are something inside."
No-one in his right senses can fault the President for his decisiveness, but he could be going overboard in some respects. There is a thin line between decisiveness and making solo decisions, and the latter borders on dictatorship.
Khama must realise that his eagerness for a decisive government may be read wrongly as a ploy to undermine the country's democratic traditions. The perception that "democracy is under threat" has gained currency. This is a perception that must vex Khama and he must act swiftly to allay the fears (real or imagined) of the nation. As Vice President, Mompati Merafhe once observed, "in politics, perceptions appear more important than reality". One may add the maxim that a lie allowed to recur several times may eventually graduate into gospel truth. No matter how well meaning a leader may be, there will always be someone out there who may read some sinister motive into his actions.
However, in Khama the nation has a president who generates ideas to move the country forward. Take, for instance, the issue of alcohol abuse. President Khama correctly concluded Botswana's rate of alcohol abuse, especially by the youth, was tantamount to self-annihilation. This is an indisputable fact.
But the fact of the matter is that as a nation, we are not in one accord as to what measures are appropriate to address the scourge of alcohol abuse. The newly promulgated alcohol law is perceived by some as an imposition and therefore a threat to our civil liberties. But there is nothing wrong in having a resourceful leader like Khama, but there is everything wrong with thinking that the government has a monopoly of wisdom. As Sir Seretse Khama once put it, "dictatorship and tyrannical system(s) of government are hatched and nurtured in the minds of women who have appointed themselves philosopher kings and possessors of absolute truth."
The painful reality is that democracy is sometimes an enemy of decisiveness as it has the propensity to make it difficult for people to arrive at making decisions. Rather than being impetuous, the President must learn to exercise a bit of patience to give the consultative process the benefit of the doubt.
The President has correctly diagnosed politics as a dirty game. Politics, by its nature, is a polemical game. Now that Khama is a player, he needs to adjust to the demands of the game. He says he was driven to politics by a desire to serve his people. But that desire can only be enhanced by his continued participation in the dirty game.
Some of his supporters yearn for the day when Khama will take his political rivals head-on. The problem that dogs him is his silence even when under siege, or to delegate in matters that merit presidential attention. Too much delegating borders on abdication of responsibility. The President should also cultivate a culture of personally addressing the nation on radio and television on important matters.
University of Botswana political science lecturer, Dr Zibani Maundeni, says Khama seems media-shy: "May be the media portrays itself as a negative force to him. But, when major events happen, you expect the President to appear on national television," says Maundeni. He fears that without Khama's regular appearances on national television and radio, people - especially interest groups - can only guess what that could mean. "If he was there for the media, fielding questions and giving answers where necessary, that could help the country out of the situation if finds itself.
I really don't know why he seems to hardly have time for the local media," says Maundeni. He is worried that Khama has instead chosen to pursue the path of announcing major policies at political rallies and kgotla meetings.
"Khama's other weakness is that he is moving too fast for the nation. He introduces too many policies at the same time and this obviously leaves the nation in shock. Moving at that pace, he fails to consult important stakeholders," says Maundeni.
The political scientist fears that the President's hurried decision-making could have hurt many people. "He has to take the other side of the story on board rather than conclude that his idea will simply be accepted by the people just like that. He should also avoid announcing major policy shifts ... before consulting," he says.
Maundeni adds that some of the newly introduced policies have often had to be altered because they were not well received. "If our President could not change his way of conducting business, he runs the risk of rendering his presidency a difficult one (for) himself," Maundeni says.
Another UB academic, Log Raditlhokwa, says the previous presidents ruled when the challenges of their periods were very few with few educated people. "Today a lot of Batswana are educated and have higher expectations from their leaders," says Raditlhokwa, who is a social work lecturer at UB.
He says even if Khama may think he understands the challenges of the people, the main setback is the people's demands since they are better able to articulate them than before.
"Currently, Khama is faced with another challenge of convincing the society that his military background will not cloud his judgements.
The situation is not helped by the fact that he continues to rope into his government people of military background," says Raditlhokwa, indicating that the development has affected the President's trust. Khama's predecessors did not have any challenges of trust. "But with Khama, there are some sections of society who fear that he could become a military dictator," he says.
Raditlhokwa is worried about Khama's relationship with the media, especially the private media. Whilst the media presents itself as the watchdog of society, it is currently worried by the space in which it operates, especially with the Media Practitioners Act, he says.
"The media feels that the Media Act undermines its watchdog role and fears the Khama's rule could weaken democracy. This level of mistrust did not exist in the previous leaderships," argues Raditlhokwa, who points out that there should be reconciliation between Khama and the media. He posits that the issue of Khama and the media has become big and fears it even has the likelihood of obscuring Khama's achievements in future. "Khama does not seemingly understand the role of the media, especially the private one. He seems to have hatred for the media as he views them simply as troublemakers than role players," he points out.
When Khama took over in April last year, he listed the media among ills bedevilling society and needing disciplining.
"Look, if Khama and the media could find a common ground and reconcile, that will enrich our democracy.
It will also end the high levels of mistrust between the two which has already spilled over to the public," Raditlhokwa says.
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