Tuesday, November 5, 2024

RAMADELUKA IS JUST TOO EXPENSIVE

The recent withdrawal of the BDP letter that had stated that there will be a re-run of the whole election in the Serowe constituency that he had lost demonstrates just how expensive Rre Ramadeluka Seretse has become. Had the BDP allowed the letter to stand those going for elections in the South of the country were going to kick ballot boxes and the BDP would have been forced to have infinite re-runs in all constituencies. Effectively the BDP has had to make a choice; give up on Ramadeluka and keep the party elections intact.

As things stand in nearly all constituencies to the North of Dibete there are protests at ward level. If at least one protest succeeds in a constituency then there will have to be a re-run of that constituency if Rre Seretse’s interpretation of the BDP rules is to be accepted. Given the lengths to which the BDP government had to go after the Francistown fiasco it is scary to imagine what they will do given a situation where they get bogged down in infinite re-runs. There is a good chance that some of the protests will be successful.

If the BDP agrees with Rre Seretse’s interpretation chances are the BDP will be bogged down in re-runs well into 2014 and the power of Rre Khama to hold the party together will be tested. Legal authorities about what the word “shall” means in the context of a statute exist; that it is mandatory. There are also authorities that suggest that there are instances when the word “shall” is not mandatory. Rre Seretse’s case is therefore not as water tight as he may think it is. What I am suggesting is that the BDP has room to let Rre Seretse go without it violating its regulations or interpreting its regulations in a manner that will cause havoc.

The real cost of Rre Seretse however extends beyond the BDP. The Watchdog Column has in the past suggested that there was a peasant revolt going on in Serowe. The revolt took place a long time ago under the leadership of Seretse Khama. It is an irony that a gentleman called Seretse must be the one who tries to put to the test the revolution led by Seretse Khama. We must understand that Seretse Khama was kgosi of GaMmangwato. At the heart of the revolution led by Seretse Khama was abolishment of hereditary succession to positions of leadership by establishing a republican form of government.

It is my believe that Rre Ian Khama and people like Rre Ramadeluka Seretse have never really understood and appreciated that there has been a revolution led by Seretse Khama, and that it resulted in some benefits for the common man, and that the common man is unlikely to give up on what the revolution has given him. Nobody would object if Rre Ian Khama were to appoint Rre Ramadeluka to be a kgosi in Serowe because that is his right. Any idea however that within a democratic setting under our republican constitution he can make Rre Ramadeluka a member of parliament contrary to the will of the people is fatally flawed.

It is a pity that Rre Khama has around him people who benefit from his apparent failure to appreciate that there has been a revolution led by his father and that there is no going back. It is heart breaking that sophisticated people can surround a man and aggravate his apparent failure to appreciate that things have long changed nearly fifty years ago. The trouble with some sophisticated people is that sometimes the sophistication masks stupidity. No really smart person can ever tie their ideology to a living human being. As we all know biology always takes its course. The idea that because Rre Khama is popular and that therefore a core principle of the revolution can be suppressed is stupid.

There seems to be an idea held by people around Rre Khama that they can manipulate things. In life there are so many variables that to think you will always be in control is downright stupid. In the past we were marginalized by senior civil servants who colluded with foreigners in the awarding of projects. The idea was that we were likely to support the opposition if we were empowered. The tragedy is that the foreigners acquired and stored information about the bribes that they gave senior civil servants. This means that instead of the civil servants being captive of fellow citizens they are now captives of foreigners.

Imagine a situation where a foreigner is in possession of information about bribes that he gave to senior civil servants and ministers. He benefits nothing by spilling the beans to Batswana. He does not owe Batswana any such duty. His power over senior civil servants can be exercised even when he is outside the country. I hear that one corrupt foreigner is now a member of parliament in Uganda.

What stops him from passing information about our corrupt civil servants and ministers to his government? One might even suggest that Botswana’s sudden change to sponsor changes to the International Criminal Court statute is founded on pressure being applied using information kept by the very foreigners that our governments liked.

Botswana is in a difficult situation. The corrupt senior civil servants and ministers are held captive by foreigners. We have a generation of educated Batswana who have never worked following on a generation that was marginalized when senior civil servants thought there was security in doing corrupt deals with foreigners than with fellow citizens. None of the senior civil servants could have foreseen the rapid changes in communication technology that has taken place. They are now very vulnerable because all the foreigner needs to do is place his information on any number of social networks. There is just no way that the senior civil servant or minister can stop this other than to keep quiet about the affairs of the foreigner.

Of course there is a solution to this nightmare scenario. We have a provision in our constitution that allows our president to re-invent himself. The tragedy is that the people around him think they can manipulate things. They mislead him if they think that by choosing a successor, something that I believe he will not be allowed to do, he will ensure his security. History shows that the pressures placed on a successor may be such that he needs to sacrifice his predecessor in order to continue to be in office. Rre Ian Khama’s security is in his hands not is some supposed future conduct of a successor. The idea that some machinations of a few individuals can somehow guarantee his future security is fatally flawed.

The path of the liberation of the common man by elimination of hereditary succession has not reached an end. Rre Khama should be very worried that there are people around him who think they can somehow put an end to this liberation of the common man. Just what idea of the liberation of the common man can these individuals push if their strength comes from associating with Rre Khama? Rre Khama should ask himself a simple question; what idea will these people subscribe to when I am gone? If they cannot stand in front of the common man and push for hereditary succession without any reliance on him then they do not subscribe to the idea of hereditary succession. They are only temporary adherents to the idea.

The beauty of democratic republicanism is this. It does not matter whether I am legitimate born or not in a contest for leadership. It is only in a system of hereditary succession where it matters whether I am legitimate born or not. Statistics show that a majority of households in Botswana are headed by unmarried women. The Botswana Democratic Party has a huge number of followers who are female. This suggests that the BDP has a lot of members whose children are illegitimate. The beauty of the revolution started by Seretse Khama is that these illegitimate children have an equal standing in the democratic process. Any conduct that may be seen to be a reversal of the revolutionary gains is likely to be rejected by these children and their mothers.

It is not very smart for a few sophisticated people to think that they can somehow work against the revolution started by Seretse Khama and succeed. They are not offering commoners anything. At best they can only threaten to marginalize, which is really a subtraction from the revolutionary gains. They cannot win because the revolutionary change is too big and valuable to ordinary Batswana. Any leader who shares the view of these unfortunate people is bound to suffer. Rre Khama is left with three years at best. Surely even in his wildest dreams he cannot see the common man giving up on the elimination of hereditary succession within that period.

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