The chairman of the Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation (SKMF) says it is important for the new generation of Batswana to know the challenges that past generations faced.
Midway through the conversation, Mmetla Masire makes a foreboding statement about the danger of forgetting. Explaining why the Sir Ketumile Masire Foundation (SKMF), which he chairs, has chosen peace and governance among its focus areas, he relates that the man the foundation is named for (and its patron), former President Ketumile Masire, has been busy on the continent as a mediator whose intervention has been sought to resolve conflicts in Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. He states that if other people value Sir Ketumile’s insight, such benefit should not be lost to Batswana ÔÇô “so that we never have to have outside intervention”.
He makes the point that we cannot take our democracy and relative prosperity as a nation for granted, and believe that things will always be this way.
“We need to cultivate it so that people don’t forget [where we come from],” he states.
I ask if he is worried that we could be falling into complacency.
“The current young generation was born in a country that is doing reasonably well,” he says. “They missed the experience of Rhodesia and South Africa under apartheid. So, they have never known a different country. The danger is that they may want to experiment and take us to situations we would rather not go to. That is why we need to constantly educate and remind them that there are proper ways to move forward as a nation, and build on our democratic heritage. I think we take too many things for granted, and a lot of young people don’t understand where we come from.”
If it’s about working hard not to forget, it’s interesting that another focus area for the foundation is on people who are often forgotten: children with disabilities. Masire underscores that in a country that seeks to avail all citizens equal opportunity, that should include those who, not out of their choice, have disabilities that may serve as barriers to attainment of their full potential.
He repeats the explanation he made in his speech a few nights before at the SKMF gala dinner, at which the former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, was the guest speaker.
“We need to make sure that children born with disabilities are given support and treatment and even if they are not healed, they need to be able to succeed in their own right and compete with everybody else because their perceived disadvantage will be neutralized to give them a fair fighting chance,” Masire had pointed out at the dinner.
While some would say that it was to be expected that agriculture would form another focus area for the foundation given its namesake’s long declared passion, Masire offers a simple explanation that, “people must survive and have something to eat”. He makes a distinction that it is not just agriculture that the foundation is looking at, but alternative and innovative agriculture. This is out of realization that to make agriculture more profitable and sustainable as a business venture, things cannot continue being done the same old way. Masire gives the example of how a few management changes can improve the value of cattle.
“Our cattle don’t fetch the price they should be getting due to measles, which is a hygiene problem,” he says. “But with some minor changes on how we look after our cattle, for example providing ablution facilities in areas where we raise our livestock and inculcating the habit of washing of hands, we can up the money people make out of their cattle, and make it a more profitable business.”
He states that not everyone should focus on cattle when they think of investing in agriculture, but should explore other less strenuous but lucrative avenues such as small stock ÔÇô where he says there is a lot of untapped potential. The other advantage he mentions about small stock is that it is easier to start because the capital demands are not as huge as in cattle, which should make it more attractive especially for the youth and people who are just starting to build their livestock portfolio. The foundation is currently working on a business model on how to set up and look after small stock, which will be able to be replicated. Masire states that the SKMF has involved the ministry of agriculture in the undertaking, which underscores what he keeps saying about the foundation’s approach; that they don’t seek to replace ÔÇô or compete with ÔÇô the established structures and organisations, but to complement them.
If it is the type of agriculture that is to make real impact, then technology has to be part of the equation. Masire agrees, and in the same breath identifies an obvious drawback, which is the high cost of electricity. This is where the foundation’s emphasis on innovation comes into play. He states that the foundation is working on a biogas project.
“The obvious advantage of biogas is that the raw materials are already available,” he says.
He explains that one thing that binds together the programme areas of SKMF is their focus on the youth. He says this is deliberate given that young people are generally receptive to new ideas, and it is hoped that as future adults and leaders they will be able to use what they learn to change the future for the better. On another front, the initiatives are meant to address the impediments many young people face when they try to venture into agriculture.
“We are coming up with alternatives to allow them to be involved [in agriculture],” Masire states. “The focus on peace and governance is so that they don’t grow up in a society where peace is alien.”
In the drive to inculcate a culture of peace and good governance, SKMF is working with the Ducere Foundation to establish peace centres at primary schools to engender ideas of peaceful co-existence and peaceful resolution of conflicts. The plan is to start with six schools, and roll out the exercise if it proves successful.
In explaining the SKMF’s approach, Masire uses the analogy of teaching someone to fish, rather than giving them fish to eat for the day ÔÇô emphasizing the need to focus on long-term and sustainable interventions that meaningfully empower the beneficiaries.
“We avoid being a go-between; merely taking from one set of people to give to another,” he states. “We take a slightly different approach because we prefer to solve the problem. We focus on long term solutions rather than short term interventions. We have nothing against short term interventions. They are necessary to address the immediate situations, and someone has to do them. We can’t all be doing the same thing.”
Fourteen years after Sir Ketumile stepped down from the presidency, which he held for almost 18 years, I ask his son if it is true that presidents are absent parents.
“He travelled a lot,” he states. “But we understood the role he played in the country.”
Somewhere through this explanation, he makes the point to deliberately speak in the present tense.
“Even when he’s not travelling, he is in meetings. So he’s sometimes present, but busy.”
Some hours later, poring through my notes, I find what could be the explanation for this detour in language. Sir Ketumile might no longer be resident at the State House, but he still keeps a punishing schedule. As his son explains, the former president spends half his time outside Botswana to honour various invitations and assignments that include giving lectures ÔÇô mainly on governance and democracy.
