Dear Sir. I wish not to be misunderstood. I address you as “Sir” not as one who has been knighted by the Queen of England, rather I use the word purely as a politeness marker, usually directed at male persons. I am very much alive to the fact that a knighthood honour has not been bestowed upon your Excellency. Since the beginning of the strike some two weeks ago, you have been invisible and inaudible. Please note my diction: the word is “invisible” and not “invincible.” The people have neither heard your voice nor seen your face. Some have even suggested that you have gone for a prince’s wedding in England ÔÇô a proposition I doubt very much ÔÇô since I don’t believe that you were invited. Some suggest that you hid yourself under the bed when matters became worse. I doubt this proposition as well. However, you have remained silent and invisible choosing not to comment when the country was going through its worst period. This has led to all sorts of creative assumptions amongst many about your whereabouts. Some even say that Kwelagobe mentioned that you could be somewhere in the bush riding your motorbikes. I have heard of your love for quad bikes. I didn’t know of your love for motorbikes. But Your Excellency it doesn’t seem right to ride when the people strike. They may say they were taken for a ride.
Since I personally don’t know about your whereabouts, I have chosen to write to you to give you an update on what has been happening from moruleng and to share with you reports received from around the country. I chose to visit the GSS grounds to witness matters for myself since as you would be very much aware, journalists usually distort the truth. You just have to watch Btv to see the full effect of such fabrication. Your Excellency, the people are full of fury; their patience is well spent; poverty is pervasive in the land. The strike did go on for 10 days; and for 10 days the government’s ability to deliver services was paralysed. This state of affairs was however denied by a bee-line of civil servants from different departments and villages. Your Excellency, I believe that the television denials were really aimed at the people. I trust that someone appraised you privately on the desperate situation on the ground. At least 50 doctors and about the same number of nurses in Gaborone were on strike putting the lives of patients in danger. It was reported that two people died in Marina. The Rev Dr Seakgosing was on television though saying that the strike has not disrupted government services in health centres in Gaborone, Molepolole and Thamaga. But I did hear at moruleng the people complaining that your government is so corrupt that it makes a servant of God, a moruti tell lies. I understand your Excellency that you shouldn’t be blamed for these lying baruti; but at moruleng they said the man was sent by you.
At moruleng the young politicians, Duma Boko, Dumelang Saleshando and Gomolemo Motswaledi did come to speak to the striking workers. It should have been you. You should have come to address them; to tell them to return to work, but you did not show up. Masisi says addressing striking public servants politicises the public service. I think he forgets that the BDP has met the leaders of the unions privately. Additionally, the BDP MP, Tawana Moremi, has also addressed the striking workers last week in Maun. Masisi also addresses the workers through Btv and Radio Botswana. So if indeed addressing striking workers politicises the civil service then the opposition parties as well as BDP are guilty of the same charge.
Your Excellency I must say I was surprised to see at moruleng large numbers of employees from the Mass Media Complex: newsreaders, photographers, cleaners, and technicians. There are, however, two people whom I can bear witness that they did not miss a day at work. Miss Gloria Kgosi at Btv, together with a zealous young man by the name of Ernest Phiri, were always on television making sure that the station ran well. If they were not reading news, doing interviews, they gave us a fair share of cartoons. I am grateful for the cartoons since they are just a metaphor of something else much more sinister. I do mention these two workers in particular since both have developed very unique but distinct sign-off signatures. Miss Kgosi always o sadisa ka lerato le le kalo. She is a young woman who is full of love. Mr. Phiri on the other hand always encourages people gore ba tlhole ba berekela lefatshe la bone ka bonatla, botswerere le boineelo. I believe your Excellency will also appreciate how these two always throw in a bit of red attire to signal, as it were, other persuasions.
Your Excellency, I wish to also express my disappointment with the Attorney General and a host of lawyers in those chambers. Why don’t you dismiss all of them? I suspect they all went on strike. I note that in a case between government and the unions last week, none of them appeared. I only saw that lawyer who looks like an IT nerd, representing the government at the Industrial Court. I forget his name. He should be the best lawyer the country has. He handled your case against Motswaledi meticulously. I hear he is the BDP lawyer as well and I believe he is the lawyer for serious institutions like the University of Botswana. It may be best to fire all government lawyers and allow all government cases to be handled by him. It will certainly save the government much money.
Your Excellency, as a patriot, I must advise you concerning the current strike. I hear the unions are taking a five (5) day reprieve to see if you will agree to meet them. I propose that you do meet them. The leaders of the unions now know that BDP will lose power in 2014 and they now no longer treat the current government with respect. I don’t know who let them into this secret, but since they now know about it, they have become stubborn. This time around unlike in the past they seem determined to fight to the bitter end. I wish that something could be done to resolve the impasse. The unions are not trying to make the country ungovernable; the strike already made it ungovernable last week. People were killed and many failed to receive services from government departments. But for the strike to be resolved, you have to be visible Your Excellency since people are beginning to say that you are afraid of the workers, Motswaledi, Boko and Saleshando. I hope that now that the strike has abated temporarily, you would be seen again, talking, waving, and shaking hands with the poor in our villages.
