Et tu, Brute?” is a Latin phrase often used poetically to represent the last words of The great Roman leader Julius Caesar to long time friend Marcus Brutus at the moment of his assassination. It can be variously translated as “Even you, Brutus?”,”And you, Brutus?”, “You too, Brutus?”, “Thou too, Brutus?” or “And thou, Brutus?” Immortalized by Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1599), the quotation is widely used in Western culture to signify the utmost betrayal.
One may conclude or assume that I have read Shakespeare’s masterpiece but an honest man that I am let me confess that I have not. But I have a deeper synopsis of the morale of the story because as a young boy it was a very popular and celebrated piece of literature so much that I have heard so much about it and I know so much about it even without reading it. That is the beauty of listening to interesting tales when others converse about them, especially elders.
It is so amazing to see the Bible and literature unravel into true life situations like a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. I must confess, I grew up very much a doubting Tomas in a lot of things up until my late twenties when I practically started to face life head on. I grew up questioning the existence of God and wanted evidence or some kind of proof before I could believe that God did indeed exist and so I was bored with stories of medieval eras like Shakespeare’s literature but interestingly the Julius Caesar story caught so much of my attention and passion. Probably it was because I envied myself as some heroic character like John Q in the Denzel Washington movie. This means that I no longer question the Bible because I have grown to understand that some things in life are too divine for me to understand or question and that is just the way they are meant to be.
The Bible is written by human beings like me. Literature as well, is a message from human beings who either have had experience of what they are writing about or it is their own imagination and I have grown to respect their intelligence and vision for they have been afforded that by God. But even then, their imaginations mostly constitute reality if imagined by sane people. This then means that literature will most of the time if not all the time relay to you thoughts and beliefs next door to reality.
That there is Moses in the Bible who was God sent to rescue the people of Israel from the oppression by the Pharaoh, is testified by people like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln etc. That there was a man called Brutus in Shakespeare’s novel who betrayed his best friend Julius Caesar to connive with his enemies and actually play a role in his assassination is testified by many betrayals from our dear friends that not one reader of this article can deny.
Such is what the Bible and good literature depicts for us to understand and be able to live with challenges and situations in life, be it positive or negative.
This past week has been engulfed by a lot of drama surrounding the attendance of the BDP celebrations by my party the BMD to an extent of great rumour mongering concerning the status quo of our vice president Botsalo Ntuane.
On Wednesday 22/02/2012 Botsalo was on Duma fm for an interview in his capacity as former executive secretary of the BDP whilst on the same evening our executive committee had convened an emergency meeting to reconsider their decision to attend the BMD festivities. This was as a result of the uproar from the membership in protest to their earlier decision.
Ntuane deliberately and irresponsibly made a statement on radio confirming the attendance of the BMD at the BDP celebrations when in actual fact he was well aware that EXCO was deciding on that at that very moment. Irresponsible because he did not know what the outcome of the meeting would be thus he should not have committed the party. But because he is so obsessed with nostalgia to attend the festivities he believed his utterances on radio would influence the party’s decision.
As it turned out in the end the party rescinded on its earlier decision to attend the BDP celebrations and the following morning the party spokesperson was again back on radio to make public the parties decision which put the party at sixes and sevens.
Before the end of Thursday, Ntuane was at it again with public statements that he nevertheless will still attend the BDP celebrations now in his own capacity as former E.S of the BDP yet again ridiculing the party.
Ntuane was born and bred in the BDP and he is what he is today because of the BDP. We acknowledge and respect that and nothing can take that away from him and his beloved BDP. But what he must now understand is that he is the vice president of the BMD and is now a servant of the people.
Ascending to the position was an automatic oath. This means there will be times when the party expectations will even infringe into his personal life and it will be paramount that he tows the line. This BDP celebrations saga is one such time that we expect Botsalo Ntuane to tow the party line unless he no longer gives a hoot about the party. There are only two things Rre Ntuane, either you are with us or you are not with us. It is as simple as that.
If what is holding you on to the party is your long time friendship with Rre Motswaledi then your friendship is at the wrong place at the wrong time amongst the wrong people. Besides in any friendship there comes a time for the birth of people like Brutus and Motswaledi can look up to you and say “ET TU BRUTE”. There will after all be Mark Antony’s.
Bots we are watching you and watching you with a very critical eye and so is the nation, watch your steps. You embarrass us publicly we shall talk to you publicly.
