Let’s take stock of where we are. A month has passed since the strike began. Medical practitioners, amongst them scores of medical doctors and nurses, have lost their jobs. Teargas, rubber bullets and batons have been discharged in Molepolole, Gantsi and Ramotswa. Schools have been closed; both government and private institutions. Government workers spend days and weeks under trees of our cities and villages singing songs, most which are disparaging to the president Ian Khama. One such a song apparently has become a hit. I don’t know all of its lyrics nor do I know its rhythm.
However, I do remember one of its verses which says: Ian ke tau e e tsofetseng, ga a na cheri, ga a na ngwana… Over a month after the strike the president of Botswana has not spoken to the workers. He hibernated the first 10 days of the strike; after which he visited the Barolong in the Bangwaketse tribal land. It should have been a peaceful trip away from the Gaborone strike. But Barolong gave him no rest; they wanted self-determination ÔÇô they don’t want to be ruled by Bangwaketse!
While the president has not spoken to the unions, that doesn’t mean that he has not spoken at all.
Before Matambo released his budget, the president went to the lesser-known village of Natale and pronounced to the bemused villages with their legs outstretched in the red earth that there would be no salary increase. Not only that, he even said that he heard that the workers have unions, and that he cared for the union of the poor and the unemployed. What he meant was his strategy would be to divide the country and endear himself to the poor and the unemployed. Dealing with the unemployed, he has come with Ipelegeng ÔÇô a poorly thought scheme of poverty alleviation in which the village and city poor cut grass by the road side and get paid an appalling P400. The Ipelegeng project is ironically labelled since it means self sustenance when the program encourages dependency and poverty. The president has also come with backyard gardens which the government develops for a selected few in the villages. Backyard gardens have become a classic example of a lack of ideas in trying to eradicate poverty. Then there was the constituency league which was in shambles from the very beginning. This cocktail of piece-meal strategies of turning the country around and attempting to endear people to himself has become an albatross around Khama’s neck. The strike currently continues.
It appears Khama enjoys controlling people through poverty. That’s how his cabinet is kept in line. Some of them are a sorry bunch who would be lost were it not for the BMW 7series comfort they are currently enjoying thanks to Khama. They cannot clearly state their discomfort with the current status quo lest they lose the five million pula accommodation built on tax payers’ money. Poverty has shut their lips. They cannot speak freely. Consciences have been hardened. Many would do anything to please Khama. One of them even suggested that the constitution should be amended to allow Khama to have endless rule.
While he speaks not to the workers, Khama does speak. Recently he called in a team of rich men and women together to update them on the current national situation. That meeting was recorded and broadcast on Btv. I am not sure why this Khama recording was shown on Btv since it was really a private meeting between the president and the business community. The general community e ne ya okomela and heard the president swear that as long as he is the president there would be no salary increase. At the same time that we listened to the militant president, Bakwena was pretending to negotiate with the unions. It was a sad meeting. I saw ramasole le kokobolo ya mapodisi ba itshwere mahuma ba ngomogile pelo.
It must be said that the strike has hurt the BDP terribly. Every day across the country government employees gather to hear daily political speeches which show the BDP in very bad light. Yes many of the speakers attack the president’s intransigence; but they also attack the BDP as a party which cares very little for the plight of the workers. They ask fair questions about the quality of their livelihood under the BDP government. This was certainly not helped by the fact that right in the middle of the strike electricity tariffs went up by over 15%. Not only that, the Vice President, sekoa sa Modimo, said some very disturbing statements at the Mahalapye kgotla. He said some BDP people have been fighting over his constituency in his illness. Manong! He had something nasty for the unions as well. He wondered how they could they say they want more money when they drive BMWs and Range Rovers! O a bo a tsile! Modimo yo o pelonomi yo! Merafe’s statements demonstrate the thinking inside the heart of government. It is clear that the issue is not that there is no money.
The thinking seems to be that badirelapuso ba a kgora. The sad thing though is that the BDP is aging. You have to look at Kwedikilwe, Kwelagobe, Khama, Tshireletso, Nasha and many others, ba tsofetse. No wonder ba bidiwa bagolo. They are old and wealthy while the country has grown young and impoverished. They have lost touch with the people. Compare them with the vivaciousness of the opposition party leadership. They are young, smart, and forward looking. The ones who are facing the greatest danger though are the BDP youth. They look on as the party that they were supposed to inherit is destroyed before their eyes. They stand to lose the most since if things continue as they are, they will inherit an opposition party as the current leaders retire into a future of unimaginable wealth and they taste opposition party politics for the first time in their lives.
Botswana’s demographics have changed. 0-14yrs is about 35% and 15-64 is about 58%. 65% and over accounts to less than 4%. Many young people are unemployed graduates, some de facto Tirelo Sechaba participants in the so called internship; earning slave salaries. There are two choices for the BDP youth. It’s either they speak out against their own party leadership or they leave. To keep silent would be death; not just for the BDP, but also death for their own futures.
