When a press release from the Office of the President came through that His Excellency the President Dr M.E.K. Masisi will visit the home of Minister Kgotla Autlwetse, I thought the visit was meant to comfort the Minister and his family following the arson that partly caused the damage to the house while completely destroying his motor vehicle. It is an incidence no one would wish on anyone. Completely against my expectations, the President did not seize the occasion to restrict himself to comforting the Autlwetse family but went overboard to address issues completely different from the occasion. The President looked visibly troubled and angry by his tone by issues far away from the matter he had gone to address in Serowe hence his departure from the expected script to fit the occasion. It is not clear whether a speech specifically prepared for the Serowe occasion was available for the President or whether he ignored it in preference to seemingly, off-the-cuff address.
It emerged from the pictures of the event that this was a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) mini rally probably meant to test the waters following amongst others, the recent events in which Minister Autlwetse wrote a strongly worded letter to the BaNgawto Regent Kgosi Sediegeng Kgamane. The President may have thought it was better for him to seize the moment by attacking Hon Dumelang Saleshando. This may have been a political strategy for the President to assert his authority in Serowe. It is his tone and language that may have undone the strategy because it must have left a bitter taste in the mouths of those he may have planned to sway to his corner. It is in the President’s political interests to win the BaNgwato hearts by demonstrating high levels of humility against adversity.
For the President to have gone to the extent of attacking the Leader of Opposition Hon Dumelang Saleshando and his father Rre Gilson Saleshando in the tone and crude language as published in the social media platforms that covered the occasion is completely uncalled for to say the least. To refer to Saleshando Jnr as a mosimanyana (small boy) is completely un-presidential let alone the fact that he is a Member of Parliament (MP) just like the President. Because the President said Salesahndo Jnr attacks and disrespects him in parliament under the protection of parliamentary immunity so accorded to every MP himself included, would it not be proper and indeed in order for him to go to the very same parliament to dispute whatever attack or disrespect he receives from him? Further to this, the President just like any other MP I want to believe, has a recourse I want to believe as well, of approaching the Speaker and any other dispute resolution mechanism available to MPs in order to address any complaint or concern from another MP against the other. Given the President’s overall commanding position, it is almost a given his complaints and concerns would receive immediate attention probably more than would any other MP. I still do not understand why the President elected to bring Saleshando Snr into his issues with his son considering Saleshando Snr has been out of active politics for a while. Even if he was still engaged in active politics, simple Setswana imperative of botho when addressing the elderly should have been uppermost in the President’s mind.
As far as I can remember, Saleshando Jnr has been outspoken about the President’s sister allegedly receiving ‘preferential treatment’ in obtaining government tenders which outspokenness at one stage earned him the wrath of the Speaker wherein he expelled him from parliament. He presented the Speaker some evidence to the allegations whose veracity has not been disclosed except for the same to be rubbished by the Minister in the presidency. He subsequently approached the High Court to contest his expulsion where it ruled in his favour. If my memory serves me well, the State has appealed this matter at the Court of Appeal where the final determination is yet to be made. It is probably the mentioning of the President’s sister receiving ‘preferential treatment’ for government tenders and the general attitude the Opposition led by the Leader of Opposition has adopted to render the President as an ineffective leader on many fronts that has irked him so much that he has decided to take Saleshando Snr head on even at inappropriate platforms like Minister Autlwetse’s event.
The President is under siege from many fronts in the body politic of this country. Top of mind should be the current debate around the Constitutional Review process. The only structure that has given the thumbs up signal to the process is expectedly, his political party-the BDP. The majority of the stakeholders if not all of them, are gravely dissatisfied with the manner of the process the President has followed. They argue compellingly that the process has left them out of the loop the result of which they argue, the process lacks the necessary legitimacy and credibility it so deserves. His political party is always on the back foot in parliamentary proceedings and debates where it is always rescued by its numerical advantage as opposed to superior logic. The country is further faced with high levels of unemployment; few to no cogent plans to create sustainable and decent jobs; high numbers of the youth facing few to no life improving opportunities; high levels of run-away corruption still with few to no chances or prospects of taming it; high levels of poverty with few to no chances of dealing with it. The list is endless.
Faced with these challenges, it is important that the President devotes all his time in dealing with them instead of devolving all his energies to issues that will sap all his strength. As if the sad and unfortunate remarks he made at a kgotla meeting sometimes ago at Bray to the effect that people are always behaving like cry-babies where they complain about this and that whenever the President visits them, he has continued on the same trajectory at Minister Autlwetse’s event. These remarks do not elevate the President’s standing in the public eye. It will not be far-fetched to say his speech at Minister Autlwetse’s event had an effect on the outcome of the Bophirima ward by election where his party was convincingly beaten by a divided Opposition.
I have said it on another platform that the President’s public ratings have significantly plummeted. The perennial loss in the recent council by elections could be one of the red flags that a big chunk of Batswana has lost hope on the President and his political party. The BDP may have lost votes from potential Opposition voters who may have been aggrieved by the infighting in the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). His Vice President Hon Slumber Tsogwane was roundly criticised by the GBV comments he made in the week leading to the by election when campaigning for his party’s candidate. The President and his Vice have the propensity of sometimes talking carelessly whose effects are too ghastly to contemplate.
When all is said and done, I hold the view that the President’s speech at Minister Autlwetse’s event dismally failed to fit the occasion in all its manifestations. He failed to leave the mark that while he faces challenges particularly from some residents of Serowe for obvious reasons, he was still prepared to humble himself so that he wins their hearts going forward. The rigidity with which he seemed to assert his power and authority may have received a stamp of approval from the few that attended the event. It is anybody’s guess whether the rigidity has earned him more foes than friends or vice versa. Only time will tell. The unnecessary attack on Rre Gilson Saleshando and his son has certainly not done him any good given the political and other circumstances he faces. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. A new Covid-19 variant is reported to be in our midst. Let us continue to religiously adhere to all Covid-19 protocols.
