Someone has said Batswana ba lebala ka pele (Batswana are very forgetful). Whoever made this observation was more than right. If members of the opposition could remember that it was Khama who caused the split that gave birth to what we now know as Botswana Congress Party.
On Wednesday 30th July 1997, the Botswana Gazette newspaper carried a glaring news headline: “The BDF is spying on us – claims Koma.” This was not a mere allegation; indeed the BNF had burst some two Military Intelligence operatives from BDF. This occurred at the Ledumang BNF elective congress.
The following year the BNF broke asunder resulting in the creation of the BCP. General Khama was the underwriter of this split and he collaborated very closely with Dr Kenneth Koma who referred to Khama as “uncle” as they apparently were related.
This was at the time when Khama was still BDF Commander and at this point he was already tipped to become the next VP. This was less than a year before he resumed his new political appointment and while at BDF, he was making every effort to create a conducive political environment for himself. Khama had been scared to his marrow by the reception given to General Merafhe when he arrived in Parliament.
This was not the first time that Khama was getting himself involved in politics. Years earlier while he was deputy commander, he created what was known as Political Counterinsurgency Cell operating under BDF Military Intelligence. The role of this cell was to cripple the opposition in favour of the ruling party. Now that Khama was personally moving into politics, he put this cell on overdrive and maximum firepower for collateral damage on the opposition.
At BNF, there were claims and counterclaims of intelligence infiltration and indeed this was true as Khama was readying himself for politics. The results of his efforts came as the creation of the BCP in Palapye the following in 1998. Koma and Khama made it look like the eleven MPs that formed the new party were renegades who were out of order. And indeed this became the general public view.
Remember that this occurred the same year Khama became VP and this was no coincidence, this was planned and executed by the Koma/Khama axis. The thirteen MPs that ultimately formed the BCP were well aware of the trickery of Koma but never knew that Khama had a hand in it.
While Khama was BDF Commander, he made sure that the Political Counterinsurgency Cell was well resourced. Unfortunately the MI of Khama’s era was missing the mark on providing critical military intelligence needed especially between Botswana and South Africa in the days of apartheid.
Years later the BCP and the BNF have come together through the UDC project. In 2014, the BCP went solo in an attempt to dislodge the BDP from power. They were thrashed and had no choice but to seek shelter under the mighty umbrella. One observer says that was a blessing in disguise because this country could have swapped Khama the dictator with Boko the benevolent dictator.
People believed in Boko and he looked so determined from his eloquent public speaking engagements that he meant what he said. For those who knew the level of corruption Khama and his brothers had committed through Seleka Springs (Pty) Ltd, Boko was the man to trust and take his word as gospel truth.
All of a sudden the charisma in Boko began to wane moments after the arrival of the BCP. It seems it was an issue of bad timing for the BCP in this matter. Already Boko had turned coat and was now embracing Khama and it was too late for the BCP to make a U-turn. They just had to make do with what was on the table.
They never imagined sharing a podium with Khama, the dictator who for so long was terrorising the opposition in Botswana. Boko who became famous for his statement that once in power he was going to prosecute the pair of Khama and Kgosi, imprison them and furthermore shave the hair of Ian Khama, was now singing from a different songbook. Shaving off Khama’s hair was the phrase that mesmerised Boko’s audience.
All of a sudden Boko was then speaking in forked tongues. In the run-up to the 2019 elections, the man was no longer calling Khama: “A demon whose only propitiation was through human sacrifice.” He had then referred to Khama as a sadist with an insatiable appetite for delighting in human suffering.
All of a sudden, boom!!! Boko and Khama were now friends and the former had totally departed from his path of being a Khama critic. They were now smoking the same pipe and calling each other comrade. Boko had changed script and was now saying, “If a man has a passion for distributing soup and African muffins, he must be allowed to fulfil his dream.”
It was too late for the BCP to turn back lest they lost public confidence. Khama had again come to wedge himself into opposition politics through the BNF leader again. History was repeating itself here but this time unlike in the days of Koma, it all backfired and the BNF managed only to scrape the bottom of the barrel coming out with only four MPs.
Cdr Khama got it wrong this time around as the BCP and the public at large wisened up on his old tricks. Like Koma, Boko is applying his politricks on overturning the gains of the BCP by hiring and firing within the party he is in coalition with. The appointment of Dithapelo Keorapetse has been a long way coming.
The BCP should this time around break away from the shadow of Khama forever. It is time they break away from the UDC which a coalition that is far off from being democratic. Even though Batswana forget very easily, 2024 is not far off for them to remember that Khama spoiled the party for an opposition victory.
