The leader of the opposition MELS movement of Botswana, Temba Joina, says that President Ian Khama must apologize to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
In a statement released this week, Joina said that the diplomatic fallout between Botswana and Zimbabwe should be blamed on Khama, who, after assuming power acted in an undiplomatic manner that soured relations between him and Mugabe.
Joina said without reading the constitution of Zimbabwe in relation to the outcome of a General Election in that country, Khama went ahead and chose not to recognize Mugabe as the rightful President of Zimbabwe.
“Diplomatically, he [Khama] owed Mugabe an apology. He has since failed to do that,” he said.
To make matters worse, said Joina, Botswana took a partisan position by taking sides with the Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and becoming hostile to Mugabe’s ZANU PF.
Joina said that it was wrong for Khama to declare University of Botswana lecturer Caesar Zvayi a prohibited immigrant just because he was a known supporter of Mugabe.
“President Khama must personally go to Harare to tender his apologies to Mugabe. As a party we are not going to support Botswana over this row. We hope that Botswana will see the need to seriously resolve this matter amicably,” said Joina.
Joina is the leader of the socialist MELS which continues to espouse Communist ideology.
Although the outfit has never won a seat in parliament it continues to be one the biggest critics of the Botswana Government.
