In December 1968, shortly after sitting for her form five school leaving examinations, Margaret Nasha found herself on an aeroplane to London.
Somewhere next to her was one Daniel Kwelagobe.
The trip to London, there on scholarship to do broadcast training at a BC Training Institute was the beginning of what was to become one of Botswana’s most illustrious albeit tempestuous careers sprawling the civil service where she first worked as a broadcaster before becoming a diplomat and later a politician during what time she served as a senior minister of state before becoming the country’s first woman Speaker of the National Assembly ÔÇô a position she currently occupies.
The story of Nasha as told by herself is that of perseverance, dedication and determination to fight and win against prejudices, not least sexism and gender based discrimination; prejudices which she had started to experience as a little girl growing in Kanye, only to follow her into adulthood.
While clearly an iconoclast, Nasha tells her story through the use of simple and easy to understand language. Many of the players in her life story are people who many of the readers would today be familiar with; Daniel Kwelagobe, Sir Ketumile Masire, Batho Molema, Ponatshego Kedikilwe and Gaositwe Chiepe.
As in her real life, the autobiography is written with agnostic sense of humour coupled with candour and a near blistering self-immolation.
She narrates her battles with the then mainly white senior government administrators against who she battled as she fought to get a bursary to go and study journalism.
She is ruthless in her analysis of the ruling party’s factional mode which she accuses of stage managing contests while casting out those individuals not favoured by the factional overlords.
She is disparaging in her views of how factions have killed not just democracy but also talent and accountability within the ruling party.
Most intriguing is her often tumultuous sparring bouts with former Bakwena Regent, Kgosikwena Sebele ÔÇô a long time antagonist who through Bakwena Chieftainship most defined Nasha’s long stay as Minister of Local Government.
She admires Sebele’s fine grasp of legal detail but admonishes him for cherry-picking.
She confronts with amazing honesty and frankness her marital problems which eventually culminated in the collapse of her marriage.
She is outspoken against the BDP culture of ingrained reluctance even refusal to accept women as equals.
When later in her career she told her party colleagues that she intended to contest for position of Speaker of the National assembly, she was met with subtle but loaded questions over whether she had consulted with the then incumbent, Patrick Balopi.
A seasoned political player well versed with BDP’s gender prejudices she immediately knew very much what the insinuations were; that her ambitions were once again getting the better of her by standing for such a senior position that happened to held by such a distinguished and accomplished politician in Patrick Balopi.
Truthful to the bone, she admits to have been a beneficiary of the factions when she rose to become the chair of the party’s Women’s Wing when she had not spent a minute campaigning for that position.
“I had never before come across a situation where a person could win an election without campaigning. Worse still, winning despite the fact that one knew there were people who were better qualified and could not be elected simply because they belonged to a weaker faction in the party.
That was confusing and most stupefying tome. More bewildering still, was the fact that the leadership of the party was busy issuing strongly worded statements denying the existence of factions within the party.’
Never a factional convert she is unforgiving when the narrates the story of how the same factions worked against her when years later she, “this woman who wants every position under the sun” aspired to become the BDP Secretary General in a contest that pitted her against long time friend and classmate Daniel Kwelagobe.
While saddened by her loss to Kwelagobe, she insists that a statement had however been made.
“A win by a margin of 30 votes only was something that DK had never experienced before. He had never come close that close to losing and was more used to pounding his opponents to a pulp with margins of no less than five hundred votes, and at times well over a thousand. Definitely the outcome of this vote shook him to the core.”
She adds; “such is the reality of a woman’s life in politics, especially in our peculiar situation, where women who aspire for positions of leadership and power are detested and viewed with suspicion. Sometimes, it does look like we are fighting a losing battle, but as I always say, someone has to do this dirty job so that up and coming young women know that it can be done. Hopefully, they will go on to achieve much more than my generation has, a generation which is evidently carrying cultural and other baggage from the past.”
