Election campaigns in Botswana have become capital intensive. In Botswana’s latter day elections campaigning, money from outside the country has become king. And that came to a head in the immediate past general elections in 2019. One just has to look at the growing number of monied but non-political people that are entering parliament at the end of every election cycle. To make matters worse, political parties are shameless in courting into their ranks these none politicians. If the arrival of the opposition UDC aircraft here demonstrated anything it is that the playing field is not even, and the opposition would no longer watch and do nothing about it.
They are willing to move mountains to level the playing field. There are no rules governing election campaign finances in Botswana. There is no oversight and nobody has the ultimate authority. The rules are few and seldom enforced, including by the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) – whose true independence is, ironically, increasingly a subject of public doubt. The ruling party has no incentive to change course, not least because it is the biggest beneficiary of the status quo. While political parties, especially the ruling party benefit from this footloose, wild, wild west-like existence, the country is a loser because of ensuing reputational damage.
Ahead of the 2019 General Elections President Mokgweetsi Masisi had hinted at coming up with a law on state funding of political parties. He had also talked about resuscitating the All -Party Conference that had been started by the late President QKJ Masire. Neither has materialised. Establishing a genuine and meaningful All-Party Conference is not an easy undertaking. It takes politesse, maturity and statesmanship. All those are in short supply today. When held in an atmosphere of good faith, an All-party Conference can help reduce the potential of political differences between contending partiers. It helps cut down on polarity and gossip that are often a result of mistrust and suspicion. The scale and tenacity of post-election legal contests that we saw in 2019 were unprecedented in the history of Botswana. It could easily have been worse.
Post-election troubles are often a sign of long simmering pollical issues that have been left unresolved for far too long. Just as I was tidying this article up I got on my phone notification that Specially elected Member of parliament, Unity Dow is presenting a motion in parliament calling for a law that would ban political parties from being financed from outside the country. This is wrongheaded. It is driven by expediency. Or she might possibly be on an appeasement mode. She is definitely putting a cart before a horse. Or is it the other way round? Such a law even if it was to happen will prove inconsequential – more or less. Before she calls for such a law there should be a law on political party funding. This is not only wise but non-negotiable, or else the money will keep flowing in from outside the country – however illegally.
IEC should at the very least be the voice of caution. It should always sound alarm, but it does not seem to be bothered by what is literally soiling the elections that the IEC oversees. They do not seem to understand that the situation under which elections are conducted manifestly undermines the central principle of fairness which the IEC is supposed to ensure and oversee. There is no need to over-analyse this point. It should be clear to all. More should be done to make the general elections rule-based. If that does not happen the situation promises to be worse in the next elections due in 2024 Election time is one season where money laundering spikes in Botswana. The amount of money that circulates outside of the banking system is a source for concern. If the leader of UDC Duma Boko is serious about stemming out cheating in the elections, this is where he should start. It happens long before the polling day.
In fact the money laundering that happened in the last elections is partly to blame for the grey-listing that happened to Botswana as a country. And there are genuine fears that the country could yet be grey listed again. Those in power have been quick to resort to tax laws to reassert their superior position in the campaign. Now Dr Dow is trying to further entrench the abuse of incumbency her party has. For an economy that is dominated by the state such as Botswana’s, incumbency offers a whole array of embedded advantages. Sources of the money is a big issue. Campaign donations are anonymous and totally unmonitored. Much of the money is from government development projects. This money goes largely to the ruling party and its key officers. Opposition parties feel estranged from an economy that services and entrenches the ruling party through a triple whammy of largesse, corruption and patronage. Let’s face it, opposition politics can be annoyingly difficult. They often seem like taking an oath to poverty.
Few businesses want to associate with opposition for fear of potential backlash that could include blacklisting by those in power. Do you recall a party held at State House after elections to honour the ruling party financiers? What a shame! The opposition has been working at getting the best from an otherwise bad situation. First they tried to foster grievance and when that didn’t work, they looked beyond the borders for wealthy proprietors. A South African billionaire Zunaid Moti has so far been the most prominent. But the opposition UDC has not been the only one to benefit from wealthy outsiders. De Beers, at the time run by the Oppenheimers used to bankroll the ruling BDP. As a young banker Dumelang Saleshando was sacked from FNB after he was seen to have leaked the information on ruling party benefactors.
