Psychologists and other mental specialists will need to assist this nation in unravelling the man that Khama is and why he exists in his own world. This is a man who has contributed immensely to establishing the security apparatus of this country. If there is any deficiency in that area, he is entirely to blame. In the same breath, if we have world class security, then he is the man to receive the accolades.
This is a man who has grown up under immense protection as a royal from Gammangwato. His father, Seretse Khama has always had bodyguards even before he became president. Did you know that it has always been tradition for the chief to have that form of security even in colonial days?
It is noted in the Resident Commissioner’s report of 1926 that there was tension in Serowe right after the installation of Tshekedi Khama as regent of Gammangwato, that there was a near shootout between the bodyguards of Khama III and those of his son, Sekgoma II.
Sekgoma II who had not been at peace with his father, Khama III, succeeded him as paramount chief in 1923. Because of the father and son estranged relationship, there was no way Sekgoma was going to inherit the old guard at Gammangwato State House. He opted for his own security detail and by so doing overlooking the old guard that was chosen by his father.
The bodyguard squad was a very powerful group and losing the position was a serious setback. To grasp what this really meant in those days, please use your imagination by equating the bodyguards were as powerful as the DIS of Khama’s presidency. They were untouchables.
Unfortunately Sekgoma II ruled for a brief time and he died in 1925. His half-brother, Tshekedi Khama had to drop from school a year later to come and run the affairs of the tribe. The one-eyed Gorewang had been acting for a year with what was known as the Tribal Advisory Council and his leadership was a disaster as he failed to assert his authority over a polarised tribe.
It is these intricacies of security in the Gammangwato chiefdom that Seretse Khama and his family by extension could never have missed. So General Khama has lived in a security bubble all his life. Now the bubble has burst and it has been broken from inside, like an eggshell broken by a chick that has outgrown the enclosure of the shell.
During General Khama’s presidency, some media people referred to his behaviour as paranoid as he wanted to amass military hardware of all sorts while the country’s economy was bleeding from the 2008 world recession. He wanted to arm Botswana’s army to the teeth.
Well, this was all for the purpose of enriching the family business in Seleka Springs (Pty) Ltd. This company was at the time assured of offloading a 10% reward for acting as middlemen in every procurement deal. This has amounted to several billions of pula over the decades.
He had the State House security changed and the number of guards increased. At the same time, there were rumours of tunnel being constructed that linked Office of the President to State House.
On the other hand, General Khama was daily becoming casual about his personal security to a point where he was seen on several occasions driving himself around town in his blue Range Rover which he was given as a present when he left BDF. Of course I must say soldiers were forcibly made to contribute for this vehicle.
He would usually be seen around with only two of his bodyguards. In any case there might have been some in unmarked cars following or driving ahead of him. But the bottom line is that this behaviour was so inviting to those who would want to make an attempt at his life
There seems to be a great contradiction in the two approaches to security. Indeed, for the last four presidents ending with General Khama, there was little or no threat to their personal lives. But now the state of affairs has totally changed. There is a real threat to the life of the president now.
The truth about General Khama is that he is a man who feels insecure when he does not wield power in his hand. But unfortunately, the magic wand that he held all his life has been extinguished by our constitution.
In 2018, I wrote an article on this very space that we should not take General Khama’s jokes for granted. This was at the time he was going around the country bidding the nation farewell. At one of the villages, he passed a joke that he might go back to the barracks. I will be waiting for President Masisi’s biography which will tell it all. I am certain that this was one of General Khama’s demands.
General Khama is a populist and a tribalist. He certainly has exploited these two public spaces all his life. Right now the man is crying foul and telling the world that he fears for his life. The truth is, he feels totally naked like Adam did in the Garden of Eden when he does not have a strangle hold on the levers of power.
Without power he has no control. As a control freak, he cannot live a fulfilling life without something that he has had all his life. The man will do everything to cause turmoil in order for him to try and grab the levers of power.
Given the opportunity, what would the man do with the power that he so desperately seeks? There is so much at loss for the man and the entire family. There are several business franchises that the family has lost. The stakes are high. The military, aviation and the tourism industries are the key institutions that the Khama Brothers no longer have a grip on.
At the apex of all these is the tourism sector. This industry is totally controlled by whites and this has all been underwritten by the Khama family. These concession owners mostly in northern Botswana have equally turned our people into their subjects and they lord it over them.
