Following the loss of his parliamentary seat, the usually media-shunning Tshekedi Khama has come out to talk to the media about the misfortune that has befallen him. In doing so, he has made both a truthful boast and a dubious statement.
Tshekedi, who currently lives in South Africa, has truthfully boasted that he can win in the upcoming bye-election. He wasn’t bluffing: Prince Tshekedi Stanford Khama is the son of Botswana’s founding president and Bangwato kgosikgolo, Sir Seretse Khama. Not having produced an heir to the throne, his elder brother and current Bangwato kgosikgolo, Lieutenant General Ian Khama, has left instructions to the effect that Tshekedi should succeed him as Bangwato kgosikgolo. What that means is that the Serowe West voters are also Tshekedi’s subjects and in Botswana, subjects don’t ever vote against their supreme traditional leaders in an election.
However, there is a hurdle that even Tshekedi can’t sail over. The Electoral Act says that in order for one to contest for political office, s/he has to be nominated. In order to be nominated, Section 35 sets conditions that make it near-impossible for Tshekedi to run again. He would have to be physically present at the location where the receiving officer registers candidates and produce a copy of his national identity card to prove that he is who the paperwork says he is.
Tshekedi has unresolved legal issues with law enforcement, notably the Directorate of Intelligence Services and Security (DISS), whose agents arrested him last year. Thereafter, he fled to South Africa with his family in tow. There has been public reporting to the effect that DISS is not done questioning Tshekedi and so, if he returns, the questioning will resume. It is as likely that, as happened the first time, DISS might arrest him. Fearing such encounter, Tshekedi couldn’t come to Botswana to attend his sister’s funeral last year. For that same reason, he has also missed a whole parliamentary year – which is why he lost his parliamentary seat.
Technically, Tshekedi can indeed run for re-election but realistically and for very practical reasons, he can’t. He would first have to first register as a candidate in Serowe West, which would provide opportunity for DISS to do what it hasn’t been able to do because Tshekedi was in South Africa all along.
