It is amazing how a once peaceful and promising country can quickly descend into a violent and terrifying place to the majority of its citizens.
This is the situation in which we find ourselves in Botswana today. The result is that the nation is currently split right in the middle. There are those who have chosen to remain quiet because they are too scared to speak out.
We also have patriots who have chosen to stand up and be counted because they believe that the truth shall set them free. At crossroads our rulers have chosen the route to hell. Scary as the situation may be, this is not the time to run away but to confront the enemy of peace head on. Welcome to Africa!
For us in Botswana, the first step towards the road to Africa began on April Fool’s Day in 2008. At the time a democratically elected civilian government peacefully surrendered power to a select military junta constituted by old friends from the national army and close relatives. Without shame Rre Mogae transferred power to a group of excitable former military officers to misrule the country.
In 2009 general elections some Batswana were tricked into believing that they were voting for the Botswana Democratic Party when in fact they were renewing the mandate of the military junta. For those practicing the Christian faith this was like returning back to Egypt half way to Israel.
This is the Africa where we have finally arrived at; where collaborators in business queue everyday to present gifts to the rulers who in turn distribute them as handouts to unsuspecting poverty stricken individuals. Expired cheap food products are donated in exchange for lucrative tenders and favors. In the Africa where we have finally arrived, people are impoverished by the ruling elites in order to look up to them for hand outs. This is the place where the line between what is state and personal property is mutilated beyond recognition; where the interests of friends and family members take precedence over national interest.
In Africa where we have finally arrived the high priests are the likes of Robert Mugabe and Omar al-Bashir. The Ian Khamas and Andry Rajoelinas are the young and promising disciples. This is the place where journalists, intellectuals, and opposition politicians are enemies of the state ÔÇô occasionally threatened, kidnapped, tortured for daring to say anything that is considered to portray the rulers in a bad light. In this place, it is not uncommon for government critiques to drown in shallow waters or disappear without trace ÔÇô where opponents of the rulers suddenly become suicidal (ba ikaletsa ditlhareng tsa moremotala kgotsa mmurubere). At worst such people are murdered in broad day light by agents of the state – remember Carlos Cardoso of Mozambique.
In this new home, which is Africa state managed road accidents become the order of the day, and opponents of the rulers constantly face trumped up charges over drugs and precious stones planted in their cars by state security agents. Here the rulers become the complainant, the witness, the prosecutor, and the judge; where the aggrieved becomes the accused, and vice versa. Security agents work with tribal bandits to unleash barbaric treatment on those found guilty before kangaroo courts for enjoying nightlife.
In this land, the state media is the mouthpiece of the rulers. Anything that is critical of the rulers is criminalized and never shown on state television or broadcast on public radio stations. The state media operate without licenses while national regulators remain helpless. Government reporters work hand in hand with militia groups masquerading as national intelligence units to gather information for the rulers.
Bye Bye Botswana, Welcome Africa!
*Gobotswang (PHD), is BCP Deputy Leader
