While a lot has been said about the merry-go- round that is attempting to bring about opposition cooperation, very little has been said about two men who have sacrificed so much for a project that has delivered so little.
As someone who has keenly followed the negotiations to bring about opposition cooperation, I think it is fitting that we should recognize efforts by Lebang Mpotokwane and Motlhabane Maphanyane.
What they have been up to is an uphill task.
Their patience, perseverance, stamina and staying power are just some of the many attributes I have grown to admire and cherish in these two men.
I have long reached a conclusion that Mpotokwane and Maphanyane are great men and it is my hope that history will celebrate them as such.
I admire them because if I were in their position I would have long given up on the task they have been trying to achieve ÔÇô not least because of the belligerence of the very parties that stand to benefit were they to behave.
To put the whole thing into perspective, both Mpotokwane and Motlhabane have by any measure achieved what many of us can only dream of.
Their individual successes and past associations with power make them to easily qualify as members of the ruling elite.
Mpotokwane was among the very first batch of Batswana to possess any kind of tertiary education.
As a civil servant he left his house every morning to work under the direct supervision of the founding President Sir Seretse Khama.
For his part Maphanyane was among key civil servants who played a leading role in the early years of developing Botswana’s economy, rising on to at one point head Botswana Housing Corporation.
During their time as professionals, they both rose to the highest levels in the public service.
After their active public service careers, both men went on to become successful businessmen, with unbridled track records of success and achievement in business, commerce and enterprise.
Now very well facing the twilight of their careers, both Mopotokwane and Maphanyane are doing what they are doing with opposition parties, not because they hope one day to become active beneficiaries of the project they are working so hard to put together.
Yet here they are, grappling with a mammoth task that, if successful, will make them the missionaries that were among the first batch to put in place all measures necessary to make Botswana a true democracy.
Rather they are doing what they are doing because they believe it is in the long term interest of their country.
In here we must point out that assuming the role the two have done comes with risks.
Botswana is a unique country where political patronage very often dabbles with business.
Despite the brazen risks and challenges, Mpotokwane and Motlhabane have been unflinching in their faith that democracy is not exclusive purview of the ruling party, for them to capriciously dispense with as and when they think it’s in their interests.
Mpotokwane is a rare breed of successful people in Botswana who think that a way has to be found to empower opposition so that they too could continue making something bigger than tokenism that the current system allows them.
It goes without saying that what Mpotokwane and Motlhabane are doing could very easily harm their commercial interests.
I have not the slightest doubt that the two men are well aware of the risks inherent in their opposition cooperation adventure.
I have not asked either of them about it, but it is highly likely that their dealings with opposition parties would have stoked some hostility ÔÇô not least from government but also their contemporaries in business and the civil service who feel that the two men are committing what sociologist Karl Marx would call ‘class suicide.’
The fact that they have nonetheless chosen to go ahead is enough testimony of the bouts of courage and principle.
In my scheme of things, these two men are clear candidates for the national awards that the state president annually bestows on people his government feel would have been, in one way or the other, of some service to Botswana.
Will Mpotokwane and Motlhabane ever be recognized for their efforts to enhance democracy in Botswana by trying to unite opposition parties? I do not think so.
Instead the awards will continue to go to those whose causes engendered and were by every account seen to be wholly sympathetic to maintaining the status quo.
However we look at it, as Batswana we should be proud that there are still people who, like Mpotokwane and Maphanyane, are prepared to take personal risks in pursuit of the ideals that they strongly believe in, expecting no money or any gain in return.
This is what we should call patriotism ÔÇô advancing the cause of the country without expecting payment for it.
If this is not patriotism, then I do not know what is.
