I watch the news fairly avidly, local and international. I have a daily date with Btv and certain local radio stations and it is only after I’ve had my fill of those that I turn to the international news channels. I then channel surf the international news broadcasters, going from the preeminent regional offering to similarly ranked offerings emanating from the Middle East, the West and the East.
Often times the same stories with international repercussions are being covered, but the viewpoint or paradigm often differs greatly. In the past the bigger global networks have paid scant attention to issues African; it was if we didn’t matter, but competition and globalization have changed that dynamic and the reports on African matters are now a part of daily news content ÔÇô rather than the soft pieces that used to play weekly highlighting either an African personality or narrative that was either supposed to be inspirational or descriptive in that it outlined some challenge faced by black or Arab Africa all conveniently packaged under some conveniently superficial designation such as ‘African Voices’.
At those times when I’ve been away from my own television set, out to dinner at a friend’s, I’ll ask that we view our own daily local news offering and often the response I get is rather irate; why, they ask, do I bother? Do I consider the filming of the latest ministerial pitso (public gathering) news? Do I deem walks through backyard gardens by ruling party officials matters of substance? True indications of how our economy and society is fairing? Do I judge vistas of fire-side assemblies in rural villages matters of national import? And the answer is not as clear as you’d think.
When I review the number of pitso’s held on an annual basis, by the different ministries, at various locales around the country, I’m also able to see who’s in attendance, what of substance was said by the minister and, if allowed, what concerns were raised by the various stakeholders. I can’t immediately write of such events as ‘smoke and mirrors’ ÔÇô political trickery and/or deception (In the writings of American journalist Jimmy Breslin more particularly his work “Impeachment Summer” (1975), Breslin twice refers to smoke and mirrors being used in the US political scene: “All political power is primarily an illusion… Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors… If somebody tells you how to look, there can be seen in the smoke great, magnificent shapes, castles and kingdoms, and maybe they can be yours…The ability to create the illusion of power, to use mirrors and blue smoke, is one found in unusual people.”). Oft times, even the soft pieces give away something, substance.
Further, when watching the local news with others, the scenes and images portrayed can lead to interesting insights or the sharing of specific experiences. Such as when an acquaintance of mine, an active member of the ruling party related a tale of a trip to a rural area with a ministerial delegation where the leader of the delegation had been sent to deliver an address marking an important national anniversary. Upon arrival at said village, this delegation disembarked from the convoy of official vehicles that had transported them there to find a small group of women cooking outside the kgotla. Activity became a bit more frenzied when those that could be held to account for the success of failure of the event realized that others had not moved themselves to the degree expected for such august company, especially when said esprit de corps were accompanied by a team from the national broadcaster.
A gaggle of uniformed school children were then produced and seated, the cameraman set-up his equipment, said official then gave vital address, in English, to the gathered children and all was filmed for national consumption and posterity. The days outing did not end there. Duly and rightfully embarrassed minister and party were then led to view the settlements backyard gardening initiatives, were one thriving shrub was discovered, with a tag attached from a well-known Gaborone nursery.
Other attempts to view and highlight other national poverty eradication programmes in this community proved equally as fruitless, and did not appear on the news that night or any subsequent night. Highlighted were close-ups of the minister’s oratory and his audience of attentive school children. Smoke and mirrors.
So now, when the battle is enjoined and the various political parties set forth to win our hearts and minds in this electoral season, we need to carefully sift through the intelligence available to differentiate between what is smoke and mirrors and what is substance. Exasperated as I was earlier this week after having had to drive 25 kilometers and back to my parent’s home to take a hot shower (I don’t remember what the service problem was that day in my particular neighborhood, lack of water, lack of power, or perhaps both), that when my mother asked why I had not gone to bathe somewhere closer to my own home, at a friends or relatives, I was too tired to tell her that I had in fact done so, only to find that my friend who lives in another area of town had taken her own household to yet another’s residence to wash themselves and brush their teeth in preparation for the day.
Instead I was thinking about an interview I’d heard on the way on local radio about voter apathy. How urbanites in Botswana, the most vociferous of the two settlement groups, and the ones most critical of government, still didn’t turn out in droves to vote as do our rural compatriots. Hence the fire-side chit chats. Give credit where credit is due, this particular ruling regime has engaged rural dwellers on a scale previously unseen, and they are as deserving of government time and attention as us urbanites. Can substance and smoke and mirrors coincide? It would appear so. So we must all tread with greater care when choosing which representatives and which party will lead us forward into this unprecedented age of challenge.
Personally the parties that address our infrastructural and service dilemmas, who put forth reasonable and well thought out strategies with regards to education, crime, facilitating employment creation and diversifying the economy, greater bureaucratic transparency and accountability will get my vote. The elected representative who champions the cause of his/her constituency in parliament, even though such debates are rarely if ever covered by the state broadcaster, will merit my ballot. I shall watch which minister is out there engaging the public with regard to his/her particular mandate and ignore the rampant partisanship that has come to characterize Botswana politics. Say what you will about our Minister of Education, her task is titanic, she’s expected to fix a conglomeration of complex issues that have plagued our learning system for years and she doesn’t shy away from the fight. She’s out there addressing teachers, parents and school children, and when she talks, she talks sense. She’s inherited a hornet’s nest and she’s working her way through it. Can this be said of all our representatives?
This election spell, gender, why the girl child continues to be disadvantaged, better be on the agenda. I’m looking for representation that realizes that the better informed I am, the better I as a citizen can contribute to nation building, no more lines about national security, it’s come to mean ‘I can’t tell you how the money’s been spent, where it’s gone and what it’s been used for’, we can’t afford to give our intelligence services a blank cheque.
The level of oversight for this function is inadequate and insufficient and its power is concentrated in the hands of the very, very few. This voting period I’m going to pay close attention to who says what, does what and their record of performance, starting with my own MP. Then I’m going to do the same for his/her opponent. Like in soccer, we need to field the very best people, the very best team, those who can navigate the tides of political style with just as much substance. We need to make our votes count for something, so let’s take even greater care when determining our representation this time so that we can turn with all seriousness to the important business that is nation building, turning our backs on the usual political mummery.
