Prior to the formation of the Alliance for Progressives (AP), the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) was the people’s only hope for regime change and some sections of the private media used all their might to project it as sole legitimate heir to the throne. However, the people’s project is now being pronounced dead and this by the same people who elevated it to the level of organized religion. The UDC politics were exalted alongside religious beliefs in which members transact business through firm adherence to holy rules. The UDC was like cannabis to the youth thanks for its ability to make them have heightened appetite for regime change.
The UDC was presented to the voters as a final abode of the righteous that every holy soul needed to identify with as a divine calling. This is why opposition groups outside of the UDC were pummelled, scolded and persecuted for betraying the holy struggle. Indeed the private media played a prominent role making the UDC attractive and formidable. In no small measure, the private media dictated the direction of the UDC in terms of who has to be admitted into the coalition, conditions for admission and its leadership composition.
Interestingly, the UDC sang along in the process and, like a bimbo who enjoys life without limits, adopted a posture that allowed the media to invade its operational strategy. The UDC carelessly spread its legs and got violated. However, we cannot fault the UDC for slutting with the media. It is a natural instinct to open up to a benevolent suitor and it is said that ‘a woman who wants a child does not sleep in her clothes’. The UDC trusted its allies across the aisle and unfortunately slumbered into unprecedented habit of unprotected intercourse with playmates that had clandestine ambitions.
The UDC uncritically accepted the coverage it received from the private media particularly when the private media poisoned people to hate the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and all other opposition units outside of the UDC. Looking back, the UDC fell for it like an unsuspecting, over-ambitious skanky girl attracted by a sweet talking of a paedophile. While organizations (UDC included) by their nature are not made in paradise and therefore will naturally grapple with demons, many of the UDC problems are a creation of the very private media that helped grow the coalition.
The private media including columnists like myself deserve a sizeable share of the blame for the UDC troubles. It should be noted that journalism is not a neutral profession or an independent agent. Journalists work in a profit-seeking enterprise and have to be on top of the game for the security of their jobs. This means that the news business must constantly find ways to keep their business afloat especially in this era where social media is taking over the traditional space of the print media. Such ways may not necessarily be legitimate or morally grounded for as long as they are in vogue with consumers of news. This perhaps explains the popularity of such petty stuff like celebrity gossip and indecent coupling that is nonetheless sell like hot cakes.
The result is that the private media is a scene of dirty-dealing; a two-faced sly institution that do send more souls to heaven and save an equal number from hell. It is a Good Samaritan as much as it is a Trojan horse of opposition politics. Specifically in the case of Botswana’s politics, the private media thrives on fear-mongering often taking advantage of the ignorance and gullibility of voters by exaggerating and sensationalizing stories. Whereas the UDC did have problems as do other evolving organizations, the private media made a kill out of otherwise petty and small time squabbles over internal procedures and processes.
The private media picked a prime sniper pose to inexplicably malign, vilify and jeer at some of the leaders of the movement while canonizing others in an exercise that sought to paralyze the movement. Some sections of the private media were openly demeaning to some of the UDC leaders and laid bare righteous indignation towards them. Some publicly vowed to dig the dirt and make public UDC leaders’ personal misdemeanours.
The enterprising news men presented their former idols now-turned enemies as dangerous, wicked and evil fellows who have to be stopped on their tracks before they caused Botswana to cease to exist. They presented some of the UDC leaders as irresponsible absent fathers who cannot be entrusted with public affairs. Batswana were warned that if they want their rights to disappear overnight they have got to associate with such persons. Some UDC leaders were projected as child predators and libido-charged playboys who prey on vulnerable female choristers in their parties.
After publishing the fake Tholwana-Borethe intelligence report that was intended to cause alarm and fear and buttress their theory that some high ranking people in the opposition are in truth an obstacle to regime change, the private media rebuffed calls to apologize for their excitement and recklessness in publishing fake stuff. They couldn’t bear the thought of accepting that they have been easily duped and their perspective weakened. They instead hung on the premise that there is some truth in every accusation. They adopted a holier than thou posture because that is how their business flourishes.
Having successfully convinced people that the UDC was a sham under a delusional leadership, some sections of the private media proceeded to urge on an aggrieved group within the BMD to dump the UDC and form a new party and indeed a new party was formed. The role the private media in the formation of AP may be debatable but what is not open for debate is the influence the media has on society. In effect, the invincible power of the media in the formation of the AP cannot be downplayed. Reading newspaper stories one recognized sustained bias and unparalleled passion to convince readers to quit the UDC for AP and this they have pursued as a righteous project.
It is of course a privilege they are entitled to revel in but their conduct is simply a replay of their self-righteous approach to opposition politics. In other words, the AP enjoys massive media sympathy but they are not immune from being pounced on in the future by the very same media that helped to advance its cause. Thus, opposition parties ought to draw lessons from the marriage between the private media and the UDC and the eventual fallout so that they learn to deal with the media intelligently to avoid auctioning their parties to unprincipled fellows with no iota of loyalty. Parties need the media to flourish but they have to guard against indiscriminate whoring so that they would retain their identity when the gallivanting partner eventually decides to move on. The BNF has walked down this route; the BCP bore the scars of such love that turned into humiliation; the UDC is experiencing the cramps and painful contractions from their early labour induced by the private media. The AP which is still being treated like everyone’s favourite virgin shouldn’t think they exist in paradise. They shall meet their maker sooner or later who will put the spanner in their works.
A resounding lesson learnt from the current UDC troubles is that political parties that grew out of media hype are at risk of having repeated miscarriages that could ultimately lead to death. This means that while political parties need the media for publicity, they need not become more promiscuous than call girls. Moreover, it has been noted that the media is the future gatekeeper of society because of its ability to dictate the direction of politics and society. Thus, the media controls society and such overbearing power of influence should come with an equal share of responsibility so that journalists do stir society towards a desired direction rather than make society move one step forward and two steps backward.
