I have observed that a lot of people educated in Western forms of thinking, especially to the highest levels, do not really understand Batswana, especially the old folks. On the surface these people seem rather simple minded and not capable of understanding sophisticated philosophical and political concepts. There are even those who subscribe to the view that Batswana are rather timid and not keen to stand their ground, or fight for anything.
 
Batswana, especially the old folks have a very ingenious tool when it comes to discussions and arguments about things that they seemingly know nothing about. They let you talk and just listen, knowing fully well that if they give you enough time to articulate your position, you will invariably contradict yourself. Because those educated in Western methods usually have two adversaries with competing views they fail to understand why Batswana generally do not take positions. Batswana know that it is possible for contradictory positions to be pronounced by the same person.
 
It is at the moment of contradiction that Batswana generally take a position. Usually they just move away or get on with their lives. What they do is allow you to make the decision for yourself as to what is your best course of action after you expose your contradictory positions. It is this capacity for giving people space to expose their own contradictions that some mistake for lack of capacity to take a stand or fight. Why fight when you can wait for the smart person to expose his contradictions?
 
The BDP may seem to be on a roll with the opposition seemingly unable to form a workable alternative. This however does not mean the contradictions within the claims for good government, development and prudent management of national resources by the BDP are lost on Batswana. Batswana are waiting for an admission on the part of the BDP that it does not have a solution to current and future problems. There is no way that the BDP will ever directly admit not to have a solution, but sooner rather than later an indirect admission will be made.
 
I have for a long time held the wish and hope that Rre Khama will make certain fundamental moves regarding the direction of this country. This wish and hope was based on the knowledge of the high levels of goodwill that Batswana had for Rre Khama to succeed. For a long time I have also held the view that Rre Khama has the gravitas to hold this country together even in times of fundamental shifts. I am however slowly drifting to the position that maybe I have been too optimistic.
 
There seems to be a remarkable lack of imagination in Rre Khama’s administration. His administration lacks the ability to realize that new workable ideas for the creation of sustainable employment are not easy to come by. If it is accepted that 80% of start up businesses fail within two years, and we ask our unemployed youth to start businesses to be employers, then we are effectively saying we hope for only 20% of our young to create employment for others. How do we hope to reduce youth unemployment if we keep harping on self employment in the manner stated above?
 
Who eats for six months in a year? If Ipelegeng provides employment for six months in a year, at best, what happens in the remaining six months? That is why some of us have suggested that Ipelegeng be supplemented with a component for cooperative production in the balance of the year.
This at least gives people an opportunity to graduate from Ipelegeng. Backyard gardens may seem like a good idea but they are unlikely to graduate anybody out of poverty. How are small patches to compete with industrial farms owned by chain stores? I hear that a local chain store is now moving into agricultural production.
 
We need to move away from piece meal solutions that do not seem to be well thought out. A government must be able to access the best thinking and planning capacity. The Chinese are not where they are through avoiding to think deep and for the long haul. A small country like ours, with a very small and scattered population, cannot avoid to think hard and for the long haul if it is to survive. I had hoped that Rre Khama with his pull could allow the country to engage in this type of thinking and planning.
 
I do not know whether our leaders have noticed a shift happening in Southern Africa with regard to China. In the past no Chinese construction company would take our government to court. Now they do. Couple this with Chinese investment in Zimbabwe and you tell me that the Chinese have not taken a conscious decision to dump Botswana for Zimbabwe. The shift makes economic sense. Zimbabwe has a large population which is well trained and rich lands. In terms of economic prospects Zimbabwe for all its current troubles is better than Botswana.
 
I have heard that some Chinese enterprise has bought a copper mining company in Botswana and another is trying to acquire another mining company. The Chinese know that they can acquire these entities directly or indirectly. Our government has failed to use its rights under the Minerals Act to acquire a stake in these entities. If it had it could have ceded this to Batswana investors. It is this inability to think about Batswana as investors on the part of our government that one had hoped Rre Khama would change. Instead we have a continuation of the same policies as under Rre Masire and Rre Mogae.
 
I can understand why our government seems unable to think outside the box. Most Ministers and Members of Parliament are people who grew up within the system. They were not able to embrace new thinking and unfortunately for us, they are now in a position where they can actually stifle new thinking and continue with their old ways of seeing only government and not the people of this country.
 
Rre Khama himself grew up within an institution that was not called upon to generate wealth. The army is a consumer of wealth not a creator thereof. Chances are he may be unable to make the leap from heading a consumer of resources to playing a dual role of heading a consumer and generator of wealth. He is after all a human being. One had hoped that he would still given his gravitas have been open to new thinking. In April 2013 he would have been in power for five years and to me it does not seem like he has been prepared to take risks in terms of thinking.
 
Politics aside, we need to think hard if we are to survive in a competitive world. Most of our private sector captains have invariably targeted diamond and tax revenues. Because they could not directly take the diamond revenues they needed a channel. They were invariably comfortable with a large public sector which would get a large wage bill and then purchase from them. I am therefore not too sure that they are supportive a reduced public sector wage bill. After all such a reduction means they have to be innovative and after spending all their best years getting business from public servants they are unlikely to have any new ideas.
 
Increased pressure to provide infrastructure and social services cannot be satisfied by a reduction in the public sector wage bill. There has to be new funding and this is likely to come from increased taxes. Increases in taxes will put pressure on our unimaginative private sector and make our captains of industry uncomfortable. Our government will be put under pressure not to regulate what the unimaginative captains of industry are doing. I believe this explains why there is no enforcement of regulations that prohibit wholesalers from behaving like retailers.
 
I still wish Rre Khama could use his gravitas to open up our government to new thinking. I have heard it said that he does not like being told what to do, that is if you call for someone to be sacked he will not do it. That may seem like a good strategy, but it also makes him vulnerable to manipulation. It means if I am a high ranking official and want to retain my job all I need is ask a journalist or editor of a newspaper to call for my dismissal and I get to keep my job. In the end he is being told what to do. It is just a question of method.
 
The thing is that people like me can say what they think in the open, but there are other Batswana who are far better thinkers than people like me, who keep their peace because they do not want to offend. It is these people that our president must create a channel for communications with. The current structures and processes are too intimidating to some people.
