If the childhood of the Khama brothers in Extension 5, Gaborone included street fights, the young Ian would have ensured that his younger brothers, Tshekedi and Anthony, won all the fights they got in. Mostly using unorthodox means, the elder brother would continue to ensure that they won all their battles in adult life and is said to be terribly keen on ensuring that Tshekedi wins the presidency of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF). Party sources say that the method that Khama plans to use is as unorthodox.
BPF is the party that former president Khama founded a year after stepping down and falling out with his successor, President Mokgweetsi Masisi, in a dramatic way. The five-month BPF set a record when it won three seats in the 2019 general election and is said to be growing at an exponential rate outside its Serowe-constituencies stronghold. Although he is the real leader of the party, Khama goes by the deceptively modest label of “patron” while Tshekedi is the Secretary General. The party president, Reverend Biggie Butale, is currently under suspension after an ill-fated sexual entanglement with a female youth league member. Butale hasn’t done himself any favours by referring to Khama as a “dictator” and at this point, it is a foregone conclusion that his run as BPF president is practically over. That development has created an opening for the position of president that is being eyed by two members: Tshekedi and Guma Moyo, who served a stint as assistant finance minister in Khama’s cabinet.
Strictly on the basis of the depth of his pocket and his willingness to put his hand into that pocket and take out wads of cash, Moyo is a formidable candidate against the reportedly penny-pinching Tshekedi. Moyo controls two very important committees: the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the Disciplinary Committee. One other factor works in Moyo’s favour – his physical presence in Botswana. All Khama brothers now live in South Africa: the elder brother is on the run and his two younger brothers self-exiled themselves when law enforcement authorities started asking questions about their business dealings through a company called Seleka Springs.
There has been something of a Mexican stand-off between Tshekedi and Moyo but the latter let off a couple of rounds at the last NEC meeting. Moyo joined Acting President Caroline Lesang to excoriate Tshekedi for seeking to undermine NEC, in one respect by lobbying some members to not attend scheduled meetings in order that those who turn up don’t form a quorum. A cowed Tshekedi, who joined the meeting virtually from South Africa, apologised. He wouldn’t have tried to sabotage meetings if he had numerical superiority in NEC. At this point, all indications are that Moyo will trounce Tshekedi at the upcoming national congress scheduled for October 29 in what used to be Moyo’s parliamentary constituency -Tati East.
Tshekedi’s loss would spell doom for restoring the Khamas to national executive leadership, a privilege they have enjoyed since 1875 when the future colonisers of the Bechuanaland Protectorate put their great grandfather, Khama III, on a pedestal. It is now an open secret that Khama made Masisi Vice President on condition that he would do the same with Tshekedi. With the electronic voting technology that Khama introduced, the BDP’s lifespan as a ruling party would have been extended, ensuring Tshekedi becomes president. Another batch of Khamas would have stepped forward and the family’s domination of executive leadership would have been perpetuated for another generation or so.
Masisi didn’t fulfil his end of the bargain and the Khamas find themselves out in the cold. However, there is a Plan B that is being implemented through the Umbrella for Democratic Change. Of late, BPF has been friends with UDC, especially the Botswana National Front, whose leader, Duma Boko, doubles as UDC president. Boko has fallen out with the leader of the Botswana Congress Party, Dumelang Saleshando, and it is just a matter of time before BCP leaves UDC. A BPF source says that BCP’s exit would be a boon for BPF because the next UDC Vice President will most certainly come from it. Tshekedi has been earmarked for the latter position and the public goodwill that the UDC has makes it highly likely that the party will replace BDP at the next elections. If the latter happens, the Khamas will once more be part of the national executive leadership and it’s likely their next project will be on how to once more sit at the pinnacle. However, if Tshekedi’s plan to become BPF president goes south, so will his family’s plan to reclaim executive power.
Once more, Khama finds himself being forced to intervene on behalf of his younger brother. Last week’s edition of Weekend Post quotes Khama as saying that some (typically nameless) people have approached and asked him to run for the BPF presidency. No one in the BPF (not even Tshekedi himself) can hope to win against Khama and if he runs, he will blow Moyo out of the water.
BPF sources describe this issue differently. Politicians seeking to run for office hardly ever say they want to run of their own volition – it is always nameless and evidently non-existent people pushing them to do so. A BPF source says that Khama himself wants to run for party president and communicated such intent last month to some party leaders. While there has been no official resistance, there is fear nonetheless, that Khama’s plans will damage the party because they will confirm fears that he wants another go at the presidency. The latter is actually how some have interpreted his fight with Masisi.
Masisi TKO’d Khama because the latter, who cares deeply about his international image (especially in the west) was worried that making his younger brother Vice President would put him in the category of Third World leaders he has publicly rebuked. BPF sources say that after what Masisi did to him, Khama is past caring what people will say.
There is a plot twist: party insiders after winning the BPF presidency, Khama will ultimately create conditions to both accelerate Tshekedi’s ascent, neutralise Moyo’s faction and when everything else is in place, make way for Tshekedi.
