No where in his inauguration speech did President Ian Khama say “Oh Lord God, you have let me succeed my father as king” but an otherwise respected South African magazine claims that he said that during his supposed coronation on April 1. With regard to that particular quote, the magazine says that “President Khama made a point of reminding people of his royal lineage.”
The latest edition of Drum, which hit the stands late last week, carries a story entitled “Botswana bachelor’s boss” and a fair bit of it contains details that are demonstrably false.
It never happens in Botswana that political party members “chant” the names of leaders the way Americans do with their political superstars – “Obama! Obama!” However, according to Drum, “when the former army commander’s helicopter arrives at gatherings of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), crowds chant his name.” What is more likely to happen in the case of the BDP is that when Khama or Daniel Kwelagobe or Ponatshego Kedikilwe makes an entrance, the party faithful would shout “Motho!” ÔÇô Setswana for person. There is actually photographic evidence to prove that there has never been a “Khama! Khama!” moment.
In line with what the constitution prescribes, Festus Mogae’s 10-year term ended on March 31 this year but the Drum article says that “President Mogae’s decision to retire before next year’s general election meant Khama automatically became the president.” The early retirement statement is made twice in the article but the fact of the matter is that Mogae did not “decide” to retire early ÔÇô he had served out his term.
When the Botswana Defence Force was formed in 1977, it had no air wing and no helicopters but Drum says that Khama “joined his country’s army as a helicopter pilot.” In actual fact, BDF bought its first two helicopters in 1985, eight years after it was formed.
When he left the army in April 1998, Khama went straight into politics, immediately becoming vice president. Drum, which enjoys a very large readership in Botswana, has him assuming the latter position “a year later.”
Botswana has one of the highest literacy rates in Africa (81.2 percent) but “high illiteracy” is one of the challenges that Khama will supposedly have to deal with.
The article’s teaser on the cover page reads, “Wanted: A wife for Botswana’s new president.” In the article proper, the magazine dedicates a considerable amount of space to Khama’s engagement to Dr Nomsa Mbere. Little is known of what became of the engagement but Drum claims to know something a majority of us don’t. It says that the engagement was “broken” long ago. Colonel Isaac Kgosi, Khama’s former private secretary and new director of the intelligence and security services, is quoted as saying, “It’s a private matter. He [Khama] doesn’t talk about it.”
Mbere became president of the Botswana Red Cross Society in 2005, three years after the death of Lady Khama, the president’s mother. According to Drum, however, Mbere was president at the time that Lady Khama was still alive.
The magazine editor managed to get her hands on what the caption calls “a rare family photo” that was taken decades ago. However, the face circled is not that of young Ian but one of the twins. The article has a Botswana map filled out with the national flag but, just like local manufacturers of Zebras paraphernalia, Drum’s graphics designers used the wrong shade of blue ÔÇô Viagra blue when the correct colour is a few shades deeper. The article refers to Batswana as “Botswanans.”
The story does not carry a byline and that is because it is an amalgam of editorial content harvested off the Internet and ÔÇô apparently ÔÇô not fact-checked. The sources are listed as www.mmegi.bw, The Times, www.wikipedia.com, Reuters, SABC News, Mail & Guardian, whoswhosa.co.za, BBC News, www.afrika.no, Business Day and BOPA Daily News.
The basic journalistic standard of “fair, accurate and balanced” does not matter a great deal to most foreign journalists and, over the years, they have been happily leaping over the thick line between reporting and creative writing when they report about Botswana. “I’m standing here in the middle of the African bush,” said an American TV journalist in 2003 as he filed a news report back home. He was accompanying George Bush during the United States’ president’s two-hour stop-over in Gaborone. The reporter was actually standing a few meters away from the First World splendour of the Grand Palm Hotel but he chose the background of the wildlife sanctuary on the grounds of the hotel to convince his audience back home that he was on a hazardous and unusual assignment in Africa.
Drum won the “Best General Interest Magazine Advantage ADMAG Award” in 2006 and 2007.
