In one of his many Kodak moments, President Ian Khama is photographed cycling through Old Naledi on the eve of the 2009 elections with a throng of cheering kids in tow. To his detractors, the past master of political manipulation was playing his populist card. His supporters, however, insist that the man was just “being himself.”
Really? And just which self would that be?
No politician in the history of Botswana has been encrusted with so many layers of iconography that the person behind them can barely be glimpsed. Like a Russian doll you can unpack the gung ho, swashbuckling president until you reach the enduring soldier beneath. The only certainty is that his name always produces an astonishing array of responses, from “dictator” to “philanthropist” to “vindictive”
So little is known about Khama that speculation and guesswork has fleshed out the man. Was there something sinister behind his decision to set up the Directorate on Intelligence Services (DIS)? Is he abusing power to deport foreigners who do not pose any security threat to Botswana? Will he step down at the end of his term? What would Botswana politics look like without him? Tons of reams of newsprint have been squandered in an attempt to sketch a portrait of the media shy president. Journalists, academics and critics who are always searching for his hand and mind in government decisions, depend on selected leaks and few have actually met him in person.The result is a series of differing accounts, providing shifting images of the president. And readers who try to stalk the elusive Khama through the inky thickets of newspaper pages are puzzled by how one man who took an oath of office in 2008 became thousands in less than five years. Although he has been very consistent in how he packages himself publicly: donating blankets to destitute; riding donkey carts to kgotla meetings and having fireside chats with tribesmen, reactions from the media, academia and politicians has been as many and divergent as are his supporters and detractors.
Taking a look at some of the events that have shaped the public perception of Khama- Sunday Standard explored through a review of past media reports ÔÇô his reputation for dictatorship and vengeance. For example more foreigners are being deported under Khama than under any president in the history of Botswana. During former President, Ketumile Masire’s 18 years in power, there were only 115 deportations. Khama on the other hand deported 404 foreigners between April 2008 and March 2010. During Masire’s 18 years in power, there were only 115 deportations, while under Khama, 404 people have been expelled from the country so far. Member of Parliament for Lobatse, Nehemiah Modubule, has in the past expressed concern at the high number of deportations since Khama took over power.
“I am concerned that they are not given a hearing. To me this sounds like defeating the ends of justice. It seems the deportations are higher these days. More people have been deported since 2008, than we have ever seen in this country,” he said. Modubule said he was worried that the deportations are increasing at a time when the country is not under a security threat, unlike in the 80s when there were liberation wars. “The process of the law should be allowed to take its course. This is an issue of serious concern,” he said. “Does it imply that when you are a foreigner you should be denied justice? They should be prosecuted. I am not against the deportations if they are genuine. But if somebody is a security threat, they should be prosecuted,” he insisted. Modubule said the Immigration Act should be amended because it denies deportees justice.
Khama particularly comes across as heavy handed in one of the cases where a foreigner charged with insulting the president was bundled out of the country before he could have his day in court. Khama’s critics simply joined the dots, and a sinister outline emerged: The president thought nothing of abusing his power to get back at the man who insulted him. Statistics, however, paint a very different picture; chances of Khama deporting a foreigner for insulting him are very slim. Sayed Fakhan Shah, the businessman of Indian origin who was slapped with a deportation order signed by Khama without being given an opportunity to clear his name was the third deportee out of 13 foreigners who had been charged with insulting Khama during that period. Indications are that in some cases the perception of Khama as a vindictive dictator is a result of projection–you see what you believe someone is –rather than seeing the real person.
This optical defect of the mind has become a common streak in most debates around Khama. The projection of Khama as a vindictive leader who thinks nothing of abusing power to deport foreigners who insult him presents the president as the central figure in a full blown hysteria against “abusive” foreigners which is being fanned by sections of the local media. In a phenomenon that harks back to the McCarthy witch hunt era, accusations are multiplying over time. First it was Indian national Uunikrisham Bhaskaran who was burnt at the stake. The Choppies manager was accused of telling his employee to “go and ask for permission to go to the toilet from Khama”.
Next was South African Hendrick Gerber, a senior manager at Tati Nickel who found himself laying on the rack, flames licking around his tootsies charged with uttering the words, “I don’t care even if it is the f**king president of the country coming.” Then Riaan van de Watt, a white South African national was dragged into the stocks accused of telling his employee that: “I cannot tolerate you because you are stupid like your President who is a mixture of black and white.” Later, with Sayed Fakhah Shah’s corpse liked clean, Botswana started hunting for other heretics and the numbers have been coming fast and thick.
That’s a recent history “Khama insulting” witch-hunt, and few Batswana would shed a tear for the foul mouthed money men. But spot the link. They’re all foreign and employers. A co-incidence? Maybe. At first just a few foreigners faced charges of insulting the president, but as the hysteria spread, so do the accusations and the media coverage. Often, the targets of accusations are villifiable minorities mostly Europeans and Asians.
“It is very easy to claim that somebody insulted the president,” said Tawana Moremi, the Maun West Member of Parliament in an interview sometime back. “It is one person’s word against another. Employees can trump up charges claiming their employer is insulting the president. How are supervisors going to control their staff if it is so easy to kick them out of the country?” asked Tawana. In one of the many cases where foreigners are reported to have insulted the president, the defence lawyer claimed that the allegations were fabricated by jealous business competitors. With the growing McCarthy style witch hunt fanned by the media whipping up anger and hatred against foreigners, Botswana may have to make concerted efforts to assure foreign investors that the climate for business is safe and friendly.
Member of Parliament for Lobatse, Nehemiah Modubule, has in the past warned that, “deporting foreigners without according them justice does not bode well for a country which is seeking foreign investment”.
