It has been a long time since we shared moments comrade. I must admit it took me almost a month to submit this article because I was hesitant to talk to you. Anyway, I hope you are fine comrade. I still remember the good old days at UB when you were our SRC President. You taught us to fear nothing as long as we knew that the course we were fighting for was justified. You led many strikes and you made us believe so many things and it took up to now for many to see deep into you. One good example is you middle name.
You made a lot believe you were James Nna (I) Mathokgwane and even said it is the name that your mother gave you and yet many of us knew this was not true. You are James Itireleng Mathokgwane not James I (nna) Mathokgwane. This should have taught us something. I remember listening to you at Duma Boko’s launch giving a moving speech and the analogy of a dog and the jackal was very interesting and your resignation has now made a lot of people understand what you really meant. Let us address your hurried resignation from Parliament and be straight with each other Jima. We are not children anymore.
We have connections in high places, in the police service and even in your own party and who knows, probably in your inner circle. The stories we hear about your hurried resignation are worrisome and if they are a total fallacy then you have a responsibility to tell us or at least your constituents the truth. You are reported to have cited personal and health reasons. Were your reasons so personal and pressing that you could not even call a kgotla meeting and say bye to your people? You cited your health and I am going to be straight with you. You are lying James. Is your health so bad that you’d quit a 1430hrs to 1900hrs job for a 0800-1700hrs job?
Was your health so bad that you’d quit a job that is all about periodic sittings of parliament and committee meetings for a full time Monday-Friday, January to December job? Was your health so bad that you’d leave Gaborone with one government hospital, a teaching hospital at UB, two private hospitals and a chain of private surgeries and take up a job in a ghostly town of Phikwe where there is only one hospital? Was your health so bad that you’d leave Gaborone and go settle in a polluted town like Phikwe?
Be straight with us James. You had a social contract with the people of Goodhope/Mabule and you owe them an explanation. I listened to you trying to explain yourself on Breakfast with Reg and I heard you mention that you had to take up the job because if you were to die in office your 4 beautiful children would suffer. Did you just have these children or did you just realize how beautiful they are? Did you not think about all these things before you stood for elections? You are a politician of note Jima and if the rumours flying around are anything to go by, you’d have gone down as an exemplary politician who said “I did wrong and what I have done does not befit the position I am holding,, therefore, I am stepping down.”
Saying these words alone without even telling us what it is that you have done would have earned you a lot of respect. Even in times of misery a lot of people would have said at least he took political responsibility. There are rumours which are now public knowledge because a newspaper wrote about them and you discussed them with Reggie. As much as I am being straight with you I shall not state them explicitly not because of cowardice but because I have not had a chance to talk to you personally or the other parties said to be involved. I am told you have done something wrong and some politician in the ruling party who wants that Constituency and the Vice Presidency has some very damning information against you and actually gave you an option to resign or face the law and apparently you opted for the former. How your deal was structured remains unknown. If he assisted you to get that plum job at SPEDU I tell you comrade you won’t last. They are going to make sure that they finish you and the secret is going to go out and you will be forced to resign and protect the good name of SPEDU.
You cannot strike a deal with a political opponent. You are such a powerful politician and any opponent who gets an opportunity to finish you off will utilise it. Don’t be fooled Comrade. Wait for the BDP primary elections. Whether he loses or wins eventually the truth is going to come out and you are the one who is going to emerge badly bruised. I am not the only one who knows these rumours and you are probably saying to yourself, “damn, tota o di tsaya kae Kentucky?” and you know I have a nose for news. Do the right thing comrade, tell your people why you resigned without actually being graphic, at least some will forgive you and will be there for you when the enemy surrounds you because as things are if at all these rumours are true, when the enemy pounces on you, you will be alone. If you really love your children don’t make them a subject of ridicule.
You don’t want them to be pointed at in public and be labeled as children of the man who betrayed the struggle. You said you want to take power in 2019 and liberate Batswana. By dumping your constituents who for the first time voted in the opposition you betrayed the struggle. You betrayed the masses that travelled the length and breadth of this country campaigning for the opposition. You betrayed the labour movement that worked so hard in preaching the message of hate against the BDP. You betrayed men and women who came up with the hit list. Yes, whether their intentions were good or bad they put an effort and you have betrayed them.
You have betrayed all the people who contributed their money towards your campaign, you have betrayed your campaign manager and his team. You have even betrayed your friend who is a BDP MP and Assistant Minster who is alleged to have financed your campaign. Think about that unemployed poor woman who sang your praise songs in the BNF/UDC constituency choir. For a moment she forgot her plight and worked hard to ensure you go to parliament so that you could free her from bondage because you promised her that. For a moment people could have mistaken her for your blood sister because she gave herself to your campaign and nothing else mattered.
The only way you can reverse all these negatives I mentioned is to be straight with them and tell them the truth or at least a polished version of the truth. That will give them closure. Finally, by being straight with the people you’d be restoring the public trust that some people have lost in the UDC because of your resignation. Yes Jima, you are that powerful and influential and you know it. Your resignation is a setback to the moono course and they are bleeding inside as we speak and many of them can’t wait for your downfall. By the way, I hear that the Selibe Phikwe airport is being refurbished or the run way is being extended. Is this done on your account? If that is the case then your poor health is a great blessing to the people of that ghostly town. I hope by being straight with you I am not souring our relationship. The student companion that we all used to love taught me that Straight Talk breaks no friendship and I hope I am not losing a “friend” by being straight with him.
*Batlhalefi Leagajang is a former Journalist
