Let me submit from the onset that I am writing this article in my personal capacity as a Motswana. Like many other Batswana I am gravely concerned about the possible repercussions for the country in terms of the political economy, social order and public psychology unless the differences between their Excellencies President Mokgweetsi Masisi and former President Khama are peacefully resolved.
I recognize my biases and limitations to the extent that I work for former President Khama. I equally recognise the biases and limitations of government representatives including Hon. Ministers and other politicians who speak for President Masisi on this issue. What then matters is that both sides make a demonstrable attempt to be accurate with facts, to be honest, sincere in mistakes, but respectful of the personalities involved in both Khama as a former Head of State and Masisi as the current Head of State.
It is not and should never be our business to fan the flames of antagonism by deliberate untruths on behalf of, in favour of, or to please our bosses. We rather should put out the facts as we know them or as given to us by credible sources. Even so we have the responsibility, as people privileged with information on the matter, to be able to provide irrefutable evidence of what we claim.
We can never all agree. Clearly the nation is deeply divided on this matter. But context, background and irrefutable facts should help Batswana to make up their own minds on what we argue.
The nation deserves to appreciate the correct nature and origin of the fallout and any sincere traceable efforts to bring about a resolution. Many agree that the ultimate solution will likely come about when and if both former President Khama and President Masisi meet in persons in whatever manner and iron out the issues. In the course of this piece I shall attempt to demonstrate why I think that this is not impossible.
It is a fact that former President Khama chose and handed over power to Masisi as his successor against the advice and strong objection, at the time, from his inner circle of close associates including in the business community and including in BDP who considered Masisi to be ill-suited for State Power. Those who were open in their objection put it to the elders of the BDP and to Khama that Masisi lacked poise and polish, and that he was not sufficiently mature to handle the task ahead. They held that he had demonstrated abrasiveness even towards his Cabinet colleagues and poor public relations in his engagements with the senior level of the public service. Those who claimed to know him better than most described him as being too knee-deep in his preoccupation with personal wealth to have integrity as a Head of State.
I am told that despite such an avalanche of revolt against Masisi, Khama stood his ground when he sort endorsement from the BDP caucus, by forcing a vote via secret ballot in which Masisi came fourth. This must have intimidated any who harboured anti-Masisi disposition.
It is public knowledge that Khama subsequently traversed the length and breadth of the country selling Masisi as his chosen successor in whom he had complete and utter faith to take Botswana to the next level. Now, many theories have been posited as to what was in it for Khama such that he put his head on the chopping block for Masisi. One such is that he clinched a deal for his younger brother Tshekedi (TK) to be nominated as Masisi’s Vice President, which by implication would guarantee Khama some measure of influence over the Masisi administration. When this did not happen, the theory goes, Khama became infuriated and felt betrayed such that he launched an offensive against Masisi. To this Khama says he neither asked for nor needed any favours from Masisi as his (Khama) benefits and privileges were adequately provided for in the law. He further told me that he never put any request to Masisi in favour of TK. He only heard from another person that Masisi had himself whispered to someone, possibly out of excitement, at such sudden fortune, that in return for Khama’s favour he would choose Tshekedi as his Vice President. This is what is alleged.
My thesis is that President Masisi provoked the issues in the first place with his many characteristically careless utterances evidently directed at Khama on different occasions at his public meetings (“…ditlhare dia thunya mo…” implying that someone was presenting psychiatric symptoms – Mochudi kgotla meeting), often arrogant (I have no time to meet Khama one-on-one – voice clip) and not so sincere undertakings (“…tsa bagolo ga di buelwe mo dibatleng…ga gona se se nkganelang gore ke nne hatshe ke reetse…” – Serowe kgotla meeting), and at a wedding ceremony in Hukuntsi the parable of unsuitability of an unmarried person to leadership.
The reaching out by the uncles of His Excellency former President Khama to His Excellency President Masisi over the very public differences between the two seems to have been grossly misinterpreted by government going by comments made by the Hon Minister of Local government and Rural Development Rre Kgotla Autlwetse. This is confirmed by the Bangwato Royal uncles themselves and affirmed by others who were present in the meeting when the Minister met the Royal uncles.
In a recent Radio interview Hon Autlwetse made several incorrect assertions in respect of the facts surrounding the motive and objective of the uncles, as well as past efforts by elders who on the face of it sought to reconcile President Masisi and former President Khama.
Hon Autlwetse asserts that President Masisi required that the uncles must first go through the Ministry of Local government as in the view of government the matter is a Chieftainship issue for which Rre Autlwetse’s Ministry not only has the responsibility, but also a duty to sift and determine that which may ultimately reach the President. “…Tautona o ne a rulagantse jalo gore ba tshwanetse kana ba tsene kwa go Minister wa Local Government and Rural Development ka gore ke dikgang tse di amang bogosi…re di baakanye nna le bone re bo re ka bone gore ke eng le eng se se ka hetelang kwa go Motlotlegi Tautona”, he says.
Therein lies the problem, a clear lack of sincerity and genuine intention to broker a peace.
One can only hope that the inaccuracies in the Minister’s assertions are inadvertent, possibly as a result of wrong information fed to the Minister by his source. First let us consider the reality of Hon Autlwetse’s involvement in the matter.
He is the Minister of Local Government which oversees bogosi as he says. But the Minister and the President know as well as we all do that the fall out is NOT a chieftainship issue. It is a deep-seated rift brought about by the attitude of President Masisi towards his predecessor when Khama started to experience infringements and/or denial of his constitutional benefits and privileges as soon as Masisi inherited power.
Among several such acts were withdrawal of selected staff from Khama whom he had taken along with Masisi’s agreement when he left office, but then no consultation when staff is withdrawn. It may sound like a frivolous matter but we are talking about people serving a former Head of State who would have been carefully selected, given specially choreographed orientation and who over a long period of time would have become accustomed to both the lifestyle of the Statesman and how things are done around him whether in the office, the kitchen, the car or aircraft! It is no ordinary public service. To shift such people willy-nilly as it happened is to upset the lifestyle and safety of a former Head of State. Is it not offensive? Would President Masisi countenance this if it were done to him? Hell No! There was denial of air transport, when Khama requested it, despite there being no shortage of aircraft that could be made available to the former President who happens to be a pilot and knew the aircraft options he could request. There was later the embarrassing disconnection of the closed-circuit telephone service, The Red Line and no explanation was given. Reasonable suspicion is that President Masisi not only turned a blind eye to this but may have caused or facilitated it without any justification. There was even the messy fussing over government number plates on Khama’s official vehicles. The sum total of all these inconveniences would no doubt be irksome to anybody.
In terms of the Presidents (Pensions and Retirement Benefits) (Amendment) Act, 2017 some of these benefits and privileges are “as may be determined by the (sitting) President from time to time”. Former President Khama made several attempts to ascertain from President Masisi why the benefits were being tempered with. At one point Masisi apologised to Khama and restored the service staff that had been withdrawn only to have them removed again and transferred to far flung corners of Botswana and the contracts of others not renewed where under normal circumstances they would have been.
If we are going to bring Chieftainship into this as Hon Autlwetse puts it then the point to be made is that the Minister is a Mongwato from Serowe and therefore a ‘subject’ of Khama who is Kgosi-Kgolo of Ga-Mmangwato. He cannot in that context preside over a dispute brought by the uncles when they represent his Chief. In the nature of Bogosi the uncles are senior to Hon Autlwetse and he cannot interrogate them. President Masisi knows this and yes ‘ke dikgang tsa bagolo’, which puts the matter above Hon. Autlwetse. The Royal uncles themselves have made this point in their correspondence to President Masisi. This is where now government policy and procedure clashes with Bogosi and you cannot blindly enforce procedure and ignore culture and the privileges of Bogosi. It remains for the President then in the true spirit of seeking peace to respect this fact and release Hon. Autlwetse from the equation and tackle the matter himself.
The Minister represents that the Royal Uncles have backtracked on their undertaking to bring former President Khama to him as per President Masisi’s demand before both the Statesmen could meet in the presence of their accompanying delegations. This is not correct. At the subsequent Kgotla meeting in Serowe, Kgosi Mokhutshane Sekgoma gave Morafhe the feedback that they were presented with such a demand, but that they advised the Hon Minister that while the principle of an ultimate meeting between President Masisi and Khama was the way to go, the conditions that the President was putting for such an eventuality were not consistent with his (President Masisi) undertaking to Bangwato when he addressed them in Serowe in November last year. This in their view represented a lack of sincerity on the part of the President. They also advised the Minister that the President’s demands would be reported back to former President Khama himself and Bangwato as well for guidance on the way forward. Bangwato have since raised the issue of the safety of Khama if he were to return to Botswana to meet President Masisi, and the same has since been relayed to the Office of the President who are yet to respond to the Uncles.
In the Press Release issued by the Permanent Secretary at Local Government immediately after the Royal Uncles meeting with Hon Autlwetse, nowhere is the status of General Khama as a former President acknowledged. He is referred to as just a Kgosi, reducing him to an ordinary Chief, perhaps in keeping with the attitude that the matter is a chieftainship issue and as such Hon Autlwetse sits above it. I have already demonstrated how this thinking is dangerously flawed.
It is not correct as Hon Autlwetse asserts that the efforts of the first group of elders to broker peace between President Masisi and former President Khama were thwarted by lack of cooperation from Khama himself. The information I have which I have verified with one of the elders in that group is that, Khama demanded a demonstration of sincerity and honest commitment to resolve their difference. He requested that there be a ceasefire on both sides as he was being called upon to withhold his concerns at what was happening to him while no holding back was asked of the government side. This was because while the elders were engaged with Khama government was busy infringing upon his privileges that I touched on earlier.
The assertion that Khama then chose his own team of elders in Hon. Kwelagobe, Satar Dada, Charles Tibone and Ambassador Legwaila Legailwa is also false. I was privileged to be present in those meetings. This was an own initiative of these eminent elders and they did not hide the fact that they were doing it in the interest of the survival of the Botswana Democratic Party, in the hope that Khama would reconcile with Masisi and the BDP. It also came to naught. The elders were not enjoying the reception of President Masisi in this effort, hence one of them coined the phrase that “you cannot clap with one hand” in reference to President Masisi not making himself available. Former President Khama on the other hand cooperated with all these efforts and confirmed that he was ready to meet and reconcile with Masisi.
Finally it would be a real pity if well-conceived and considered parental efforts by the Royal Uncles in their role as Batsadi to former President Khama to broker peace can be reduced to a chieftainship issue, which it is not. It would be the saddest of circumstances if His Excellency the President does not step up to the podium and do as he promised in Serowe that “ga gona sepe se se nkganelang go nna hatshe ke reetse”.
*Mogomotsi Kaboeamodimo is the CEO of SKI Khama Foundation
