“Change, change, change lest time leaves us behind”, so sang Botswana’s famous folk singer, Rre Ratsie Setlhako.
Everything else changes except change. Change will always come whether we like it or not.  There is time to be young and time to be old, time to win and time to lose, time to live and time to die, et cetera. Change is a reality which we often try to ignore. 
Change must be prepared for but it should not be rushed. Change should be allowed to come at its own pace.  Haste implementation of change is a virtue but it is said, more haste is less speed.
Preparing for change is usually a very long haul. It is not for the faint hearted. Those who want change to happen immediately, usually end up frustrated and sometimes broken to the extent of making irrational decisions.┬á Recently, somewhere in the world, a political leader won Elections by coining a powerful political slogan “Change is now”.┬á However, now that the Elections are over, voters are becoming disillusioned because the promised changes cannot be delivered immediately. ‘Change now!’ is merely a political rhetoric; it is far from being practical. Rushed changes become unsystematic and usually come with disastrous consequences.┬á If change is to be sustainable, it must be well planned, well analysed and well discussed. Change should not be rushed.
Take the “game” of politics, which is all about the promise for change.┬á The faint hearted and the impatient, usually end up as political wanderers, moving from one political organisation to another, in search of quick change. Seasoned politicians tell us that there is usually no short cut in politics.┬á A politician must be a tireless fighter for what he or she believes in, but with the ability to balance issues and opportunities. Change should not be rushed.
In his early years, one of the famous Greek philosophers ÔÇô Aristocles who was nicknamed Plato, had a burning ambition to enter politics. However, Plato lacked the endless patience which is one of the most important qualities required in politics. Plato became so disillusioned by the lack of quick implementation of promised changes that he ended up condemning politics, declaring “No man of conscience could find a place in that field so long as it is controlled by a mob of unthinking men”.┬á Plato completely changed his earlier ambition and ended up running an Academy that devoted its activities to the non political field of philosophy and scientific research. Yes, politics requires patience, perseverance, and painstaking (PPP). The road of a politician, as seasoned politicians tell us, is rough, with untrustworthy friends cheering you from all sides.┬á
It takes a very strong politician to withstand the turbulence caused by disagreement about change, within political organisations. This is what distinguishes a real political tiger from a political paper tiger.
A year ago,┬á at a funeral of one of the outstanding business people in Serowe,┬á the Hon. “Ndelu” Seretse, speaking on behalf of his party, the Botswana Democratic Party, said of the deceased, “He was not a member of the BDP but was the BDP itself”.┬á Hon. Seretse went on to explain his assertion, “There is indeed a difference between a member of a political party and somebody who is the embodiment of a political party itself. ┬áA member of a political party can defect from one party to other party, but a person who is the embodiment of a party, a member who is the party itself, will never defect from his or her party no matter the heat of disagreement within the party”.
Even to a non-politician like myself, what Hon. Seretse said was very interesting, very strong and indeed very educative, especially to leaders of political organisations.┬á This “Ndeluist┬á Philosophy” suggests that members of┬á political parties should be very carefully observed and then placed under two categories -┬á the┬á “Defectable members” and the┬á “Indefectable members”.┬á As to how the two categories should be managed, remains the onerous task of every party’s top management.┬á
In the contemporary global political environment, the movement of politicians between political parties is becoming a very common phenomenon. The style of managing change is usually the main centre of disagreement within political organisations. Those politicians who lack the gift of patience in dealing with disagreement, usually tend to be the most unstable. They move from one party to another in search of quick changes as well as searching for a political home where they think there is no disagreement. However, those endowed with wisdom tell us that “disagreement is a sign of progress whereas the absence of disagreement is a sign of stagnation. ┬áDisagreement is part of our lives”.
To an interested observer, the political game in most multi-party democracies of the developing world is very interesting.┬á Political organisations seem to be so thirsty of new members, especially those who defect from one political organisation to another to the extent that┬á every politician who defects from one political organisation to another is celebrated as a “big catch”┬á by the receiving organisation.┬á Sometimes, it is only after close observation that the receiving party discovers that the “catch” was after all an “insignificant small catch”.┬á Probably it would not be proper to interrogate and interfere with the rights of a person to choose the organisation of his or her own choice. After all, freedom includes freedom of association.
There is however a possibility that the ever open defection window may be used for snooping. Some people would argue that acts such as planting people to snoop over their opponents would amount to unclean politics, but who says politics was ever a clean game? In a democracy, politics is a game of numbers, which numbers are usually attracted by a politician’s well resourced campaign, seemingly good intentions, and a politician’s eloquent rhetoric about the magic political buzz word – change.
┬áAn American Socialist leader ÔÇô Oscar Ameringer (1870 ÔÇô 1943) said, “Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to┬á protect each from the other” . In campaigning for political office, whether a politician says the truth or not,┬á is immaterial. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 ÔÇô 1900) says, “In politics, telling lies is okay as long as such lies are meant to achieve a political goal”.┬á┬á
We all know that a better future for humanity will depend entirely on the good changes that are being put in place today.┬á However, the centre of disagreement is whether these changes are good or not. The future is not for us to see. We can only predict it.┬á However there are exceptions to the rule.┬á Some people can see the future. According to the “New African” magazine (November 2011 Edition),┬á H.E. Michael Sata of the Republic of Zambia, in 2001 phoned his right-hand man for many years ÔÇô his current Vice President, His Honour Guy Scott┬á and said, “When are we going to take over the country?”┬á “In 10 years’ time”, was the spot on answer from Guy Scott.┬á Exactly 10 years down the line, their Patriotic Front Party (PF)┬á took over the reins of power in Zambia.┬á They are not many such spot-on predictions. Some might say that such an accurate prediction was a miracle. We read about miracles which happened a long time ago.┬á┬á But today it is very rare or almost impossible to come across a “burning bush” without a veld fire. It is written that the Biblical Moses came across such a burning bush. However, despite such miracles, Moses’┬á people became impatient with the seemingly endless journey to the Promised Land. They lacked the appreciation that change should not be rushed.┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á
                      
History is full of changes, so will be the future.  Most of the historical changes took a very long time to come by.  It is on record that until 1860, the British Electoral Law did not permit candidates standing for political office to vote for themselves at Elections. British politicians wanted this law to be amended so as to allow candidates to vote for themselves.  But change took a very long time to come and in the meanwhile, some unlucky politicians received hurting humiliation at the Polls. Lord Garvagh, a candidate for Reigate in 1832, was the first politician to poll zero vote in a General Election.
Many others followed suit, the last politician to poll zero vote  was Mr. F.R. Lees at a Rippon by-Election in 1860. The British Electoral law was finally amended in 1860 thus ending the possibility of polling zero vote at an Election. Change will always come but it comes at its own pace.  Before it comes, there may be some casualties.
Aspiring politicians may be comforted by looking at the patience exercised by some of the  great politicians in history, people who have left permanent footprints on the sands of time.
Franklin Roosevelt started his political life in 1910 and only realised his dream of becoming the US President in 1932, 22 years after. In the USSR, Nokolai Lenin started his political life in 1885 but only realised his dream in 1917, 32 years after.     
Coming back to Africa, the ANC of South Africa struggled for more than 80 years to crush apartheid and take over State power. 
Former President Nelson Mandela laboured in prison for 27 years before he led South Africa to its well deserved democracy.
The great Indian freedom fighter,  Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi who was later referred to as Mahatma (Great Soul)  Gandhi, struggled in South Africa for 20 years  before going back to lead a successful freedom struggle in India.
The Moslem Brotherhood Party which won the Egyptian Elections recently, had been struggling to win over Government since 1922 i.e. it took them 90 years to realize their dream.                                                                   
  
The recently elected Socialist French President saw his Party struggling for 18 years before winning Elections.
Change will always come but it will come at its own pace. Change should not be rushed. In search of change, the impatient are unlikely to see the beauty of its dawn.
Coming nearer home, it took Dr. Kenneth Koma of the Botswana National Front 15 years to enter Parliament.  He never gave up.
Mr. Phudiepatshwa of the Botswana People’s Party never gave up, despite losing at every General┬á Elections.┬á He remained loyal to the BPP until the day he was “recalled.”┬á┬á┬á
Looking at the past and present crop of politicians in our Parliament,  the majority is men and women who have paved their way through many years of dedicated and sterling Public Service, some stretching over 30 years. Many of them have stories to tell.
Just to mention a few, listen to the career path of our former Vice President, Lt. General Mompati Merafhe. Listen to the career path of our current Minister for Home Affairs, Hon. Edwin Batshu, and listen to the career path of many others.  One common story they will tell is that the desire for change should not be rushed; that it is a long journey which requires focused determination, perseverance, dedication, consistency, integrity, and patience.
For those of us who are now living in our future, change has come for batons in our hands to be handed over to those still with a future ÔÇô the youths, so that before we are “recalled”, we can devote our remaining time to dreaming dreams and extending a helping hand to the young so that they can run with the batons, led by illuminated visions.
The world has seen many changes and will see many more. The barbarity of the past is fading beyond the horizon of our lives.┬á While wars of guns are still raging in some parts of the world, we should remain hopeful that through change, wars of machine guns will in the future be replaced by wars of the brains – wars of dialogue and wars of debate and constructive criticism.┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á
                                                                        
*Elias Dewah is a consultant and a BOTA accredited trainer in the fields of Advocacy and Public-Private Dialogue
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