For the 58 years that the Botswana Democratic Party was in power, it operated a round-the-clock gravy train from which it handed out goodies in the form of jobs, promotions, prime land, loans, grants, tenders, scholarships, gold-embossed invitations to prestigious see-and-be-seen events, international jaunts, immunity-from-prosecution and queue-jumping favours, airtime on state media as well as paid membership of boards of directors and management, land boards and Village Development Committees. Via this train service the party could comfortably maintain order within its ranks. Disaster struck on November 3, 2024 when the wheels of that train ground to a screeching halt, sending out a shower of sparks that torched all but four constituencies in the south. In terms of order largely maintained by handing out goodies, the obvious is already happening.
There's more to this story
But to keep reading, we need you to subscribe.
Investigative journalism is an indispensable part of a healthy society, but it's also expensive to produce. We are reliant on subscriptions to fund our work, and while you can enjoy most of our stories for free, a small number of premium features are reserved for subscribers.
You can subscribe for one week, a month or a full year - the choice is yours.
Save 77% on an annual subscription. Click here to find out how.
Existing subscribers can log in to keep reading here.
