The usual “we will refer your queries to the relevant authourities” and “your concerns have been duly noted” official shilly-shallying and floridly apologetic tone -vanished the instant the microphone was turned over to President Lt Gen Ian Khama.
Right off the bat, Khama came up with an answer to pacify scores of Bakgatla resident who had thronged the Bokaa Kgotla to complain about land shortage in the area. Khama promised to introduce a land quota system.
A year earlier parliament had rejected a motion proposing that land boards should reserve quotas for natives especially in villages surrounding urban areas.
Khama’s promise was the sort of unguarded outburst for which he is infamous. In one breath, he broke ranks with his predecessors – Quett Masire and Festus Mogae – who were opposed to land quotas, and also touched off a clash between the legislature and the executive. Faced with a crisis, the government enclave immediately started rowing hard to get back on track after the gaffe. Officials at the Ministry of lands and Housing cobbled together the land amendment bill that sought to introduce land quotas, but was again defeated in Parliament.
This was not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern. Since he took office as President of Botswana in 1998,Khama has been flying by the seat of his pants, deciding the country’s course of action on his feet as he went along without reference to laid down laws and policies. The evidence about how major policy decisions were made under his administration points to reactive, adhoc and impulsive moves rather than the implementation of a strategic gambit long in the planning. His knee-jerk stewardship of the country contrasted with his predecessors’ believe that to keep government operating smoothly, changes in public management policy and strategy should follow the old rule of change–that it must evolve in a systematic and incremental fashion.
Three years ago during another kgotla meeting, Khama announced an increase in public service salaries without the consent of the bargaining council. Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisi tried to clean up after his boss rubbishing suggestions by opposition MPs that Khama’s remarks constituted political interference in the collective bargaining process by the Public Service Bargaining Council.
Masisi argued that the President made the statements in response to a question from one of the Kgotla meeting attendees, and “expressed a desire that is not offensive or prejudicial to the bargaining process.” When Gaborone Central MP Dumelang Saleshando asked what the statement “there will be no negotiations with unions”, as seen nationwide on Botswana Television (Btv) meant, Masisi said people could not realistically draw a conclusion from a news clip that has been edited. “If you are going to be looking at just that particular news clip then you are going to come to a nonsensical conclusion,” Masisi said.
Labour unions took the president to court, and High Court Judge, Michael Leburu ruled that when Khama announced that the civil service would get a salary increment during the kgotla meeting in 2014, he was acting against the law.
Khama has almost all the characteristics of a chaos junkie who cannot live without chaos and drama in his life. This is actually a clinical condition. Chaos junkies oradrenaline junkiesÔÇô as they are sometimes calledÔÇö can be found in every walk of life. Similar to long distance runners who are often addicted to the adrenaline rush they receive when running, chaos addicts are addicted to the rush they feel when chaos is happening around them. As sad as it seems, chaos junkies willintentionally do things to create chaos during times of relative calm.
Unfortunately, this has turned Botswana into a huge controlled chaos, with the country and its institution in a constant state of crisis.
Under his watch, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and the Botswana Police Service (BPS) faced their first succession crisis when former army Commander, Tebogo Masire, and Commissioner of Police, Thebeyame Tsimako’s contracts came to an end.
The BDF succession crisis followed the expulsion of former deputy commander, Major General Pius Mokgware who was expected to take command of the BDF. Khama was forced to extend Lt Gen Masire’s contract by one year to give the army an opportunity to resolve its succession problems.
The President then fired Major General Otisitswe Tiroyamodimo who was tipped to take over from Masire, again disrupting the BDF succession plan.
The Botswana Police Service also found itself saddled with a succession crisis only a few months before Tsimako’s contract expired. Kenny Kapinga who was tipped to take over from Tsimako was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the other Deputy Commissioner, Ikwatlhaeng Bagopi was redeployed as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.
At the time, the then Acting Minister of Defense, Justice and Security, Lesego Motsumi, confirmed to theSunday Standard that, “We have not identified anyone to take over the commandership of the BDF as well as that of Commissioner of Police.” Motsumi added that, “so far we are not eyeing anybody to lead the two uniformed forces”.
The Khama administration has been a vicious cycle of fire starting, the constant creation of new fires and the subsequent rush by the executive and civil servants to douse it. The country is currently uncertain and anxious over who will take over as Chief Justice of the High Court of Botswana when Justice Maruping Dibotelo retires. Justice Dibotelo will, at the close of business on October 13 this year (a Friday), step down as Chief Justice and Judge of the Botswana High Court.
However, never before has succession to the most senior position in the judiciary been so uncertain. Based on precedent that makes the most senior judge by length of service Chief Justice, the natural successor is Justice Dr. Key Dingake. The answer to whether he ascends on October 16 lies somewhere between iffy and uncertain. The latter is a direct result of Dingake being on suspension for having drawn double housing benefit like three other colleagues, Justices Modiri Letsididi, Mercy Garekwe and Rainer Busang. A certain cadre of civil servants gets housing allowance in instances when they are not provided with government houses. Over varying durations, the quartet drew the allowance while staying in government houses. On the determination that this constituted theft, Dibotelo reported the matter to the police as well as to President Ian Khama who suspended the judges with a view to removing them from office. The judges have mounted fierce legal challenge and their case has not yet been resolved. If the status quo remains the same and with Khama still in office, Dingake’s ascension appears unlikely. So, what happens in October? ÔÇô READ INDEPTH 2.
President Khama is expected to step down next year, and Botswana faces the most unpredictable succession since President Quett Masire tried to ensure as smooth transfer of power by introducing automatic succession, which made the Vice President a heartbeat away from the presidency.
In his final months in office, Lt Gen Ian Khama finds himself straddling a volcanic -fissure as the Botswana Democratic Party presidential succession battle branches off into spy wars.
As the jockeying for the country’s top post gains pace, the President’s inner circle has split into two camps one led by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the other by Minister of Environment Wildlife and Tourism Tshekedi Khama. The fault lines run right down to Botswana Defence Force commanders and intelligence personnel.
Masisi is reported to have the support of outgoing Botswana Defence Force Commander Lt Gen Galebotswe, the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) and its Director General Isaac Kgosi.
The DISS Director General has over the years built the spy outfit into an influential juggernaut recruiting most of the BDF Commandos. The group’s political and intelligence supremacy is now being challenged by the ascendency of Tshekedi’s camp. The president’s brother has the support of former BDF generals Otisitswe Tiroyamodimo and Brigadier Peter Magosi who have been appointed director and deputy director of Wildlife and National Parks.
The pair is Kgosi’s senior in the military and unlike the DISS director General have undergone commando training. BDF insiders argue that combined with the lucrative salaries offered by the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism this makes the newly formed wildlife intelligence unit more attractive to BDF commandoes. “Commandoes regard other soldiers as lesser soldiers and would prefer to be headed by a soldier who has undergone commando training. Beside the attractive pay package, it is the professional pride that makes the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife more appealing.” Magosi has also headed the BDF intelligence unit and is believed to still enjoy the support and respect of most BDF intelligence officers. In fact, even after he was moved from the Military Intelligence, some BDF spies still reported to him.
The contest for the BDP top post is feeding on existing rivalries in the Botswana military and intelligence command and has resulted in a creation of militias loyal to the two camps vying for the country’s top post. Both Kgosi and Magosi have been at it hammer and tongs since the DISS Director General allegedly reported Magosi to the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) for alleged corruption while heading the Military Intelligence. At the time, Magosi was embroiled in another fight with outgoing BDF commander, Lt Gen Galebotswe. The relationship between the two BDP commanders turned waspish when it emerged that Magosi still had control over the Military Intelligence even after he was transferred from the spy unit. At some stage Brig Magosi refused to hand over some intelligence officers to his successor Col Cullen Nkete current head of the BDF Military Intelligence.
