Throughout the history of struggle for liberation there had been traitors. When Jesus of Nazareth decided to liberate mankind from all forms of oppression and exploitation, he assembled a group of twelve men to start this revolution. His vision was to build what he termed the kingdom of God to replace the kingdom of man.
Among the twelve, well trained and very trusted was a traitor. Judas Iscariot was his names. These followers of Jesus of Nazareth or his disciples as they were usually called were revolutionary cadets. And Judas was the most trusted among the twelve. He was assigned to the position of treasurer of the Jesus movement.
When it comes to helping the poor he was always in the forefront. When a certain woman washed Jesus feet with very expensive oil, Judas was very angry claiming that it was a waste to do that. He suggested that the oil could have been sold and the money given to the poor and needy. He had the poor at heart. Nobody ever thought Judas could become a traitor. When he was given thirty (30) pieces of gold, he immediately forgot that he had joined the liberation movement to free his people from Roman political oppression and from Jews religious oppression. To make matters worse, he forgot that the young man he was following was the son of God!
Due to these pieces of gold Judas did not only handover Jesus to his enemies but also destroyed the liberation movement. It was gold or money which clouded his mind to think properly.
Traitors are bought because they love money. Anybody who loves money is a potential traitor. In Africa it is neo-colonialism which destroyed our African way of thinking which made African leaders potential traitors. The main challenge facing Africa today is corrupt African leaders who have been deliberately created or corrupted by western imperialism and Asian greed. Without shame these African leaders sell their people for money.
When Thomas Sankara refused to be bought by France, France hired Blaise Compaore to kill him. I was shocked to the marrow when this notorious traitor, Compaore was invited by the Botswana Government and given a red carpet in our country. The question I asked myself then was if it is true the birds of same feathers fly together then there is a traitor in Gaborone! Nobody in Burkina Fasso ever thought Compaore could kill Sankara because of money. Compaore as an orphan was brought up by Sankara’s parents. To Sankara Compaore was a brother and a trusted friend.
After the French Government failed to buy Sankara by promising to give him U$ 10billion of military equipment, Sankara declined the offer and instead of weapons Sankara asked for tractors to help his people to plough. For a revolutionary like Sankara food security was paramount. Instead of buying weapons of war Sankara preferred tractors for his people. He was a visionary leader. Sankara was killed by Compaore after receiving money from overseas. Compaore as a traitor, did not only betray the Sankara family who brought him up but the Burkinabe people and the rest of Africa. He thought with French money, he was the happiest man on earth. However, at the end he was chased like a dog from home. His happiness like that of Judas Iscariot never lasted.
Mobuto Seseko of Zaire (DRC) was once regarded as the richest man in Africa. We know how he betrayed an intelligent and visionary leader in Patrice Lumumba. Today nobody remembers Mobuto but the name of Patrice Lumumba is a household name internationally. Mobuto never lasted but Lumumba will last forever in the hearts of many Africans and generations of Africans to come.
One of the most painful story is that of Meshake Muyongo whom I know personally. Muyongo was the leader of the Caprivi national union (CANU). CANU joined SWAPO in the 1960’s and Mashake Muyonga became the vice president of SWAPO.
For many years, Meshake Muyongo has been SWAPO’s vice president and he could have been the first vice president of Namibia if it was not for his betrayal of the Namibian revolution. Five years before Namibian got independence Muyongo was given money by the apartheid regime in Pretoria and dumped SWAPO and joined the South African sponsored democratic Thurnhall Allience (DTA). He was the leader of the of opposition in parliament for sometime until he was frustrated because he wanted to be the president of Namibia and when he failed he declared Caprivi strip and independence state! He was nearly arrested but he fled to Denmark. He was a traitor, he never lasted.
Because of his greed many Namibians lost their lives, some are refugees in Botswana some are in prison in Windhoek. Coming home to Botswana, the question I have been asking myself is, are there traitors among ourselves in both the ruling party and opposition? I know this question might annoy some people but we have no option but to ask it nonetheless. Social scientists tell us it is the guilty ones who become angry when innocent questions are raised. Those who want to be our leaders must be prepared to hear unpleasant questions. Those who don’t want what they do in the dark to be exposed should not run for public office.
In my view what is happening in Botswana today has marks of traitors in our midst. If not so, how do we explain a situation whereby one group or lobby list was given twenty five million pula only to fight for central committee positions in the BDP? Those who ‘donate’ such a huge amount of money what do they benefit? And those who receive that huge amount of money are they not traitors? According to local news papers, the bdp 2017 elective congress was the most expensive in the history of BDP. Many loyal hard working and morally sound BDP members lost at Tonota due to lack of financial resources while some were swimming in a pool of money. Are we really ruling ourselves, or our leaders are chosen for us by those who have money? I have a problem with leaders who come to power because they are given money by questionable donors.
Leaders must always be products of the society they lead. Leaders should never be imposed on the people. Leaders should be elected on merit not how much money they have been given by those who care less about African life. The UDC mess raises more questions than answers. The UDC mess is man-made. The central question which every Motswana must ask is, was the UDC Crisis not avoided? Or was the mess or crisis deliberately created? Is the UDC Crisis a human error?
In my views at the Centre of the UDC Crisis is the violation of its Constitution and the politic of deals. The UDC Constitution states that any group or party which wants to join UDC should apply to UDC NEC. After the negotiation talks BCP could have made a formal application to UDC NEC and I am sure UDC NEC could have approved the application. Why they refuse to apply my guest is as good as yours. The UDC Constitution states that the conveners will be members of UDC NEC until a new NEC is elected at a UDC elective congress after 2019 election. The question then is why were the conveners dumped before the election in 2019? The joining of BCP through unprocedural means, the disgruntled BPP the weak BMD and the divided BNF makes the UDC a lame duck. The February UDC Constitutional congress made things even worse. Both BDP and UDC spin doctors might do everything at their disposal to make things look normal but the opposite is the truth. The question which any critical thinker is forced to ask is, are there traitors among our political leaders both from the Bdp and UDC or it is just a fate of Batswana. Dr. Koma once said “fa party ya me e ya ditlhophong nako tsotlhe ya thubega, a se gore gongwe Bachuana ba mpotile ka kwa morago?
Ka Setswana fa ore batho ba go potile ka kwa morago o raya gore ba go tsere motlhala ba bo ba go go lowa! Go rekwa ka madi le gone ke boloi.
Whether what is happening in our politics ke boloi or betrayal only God knows and history will tell. What we do know is that traitors never last.
*Dr Cosmos K. Moenga is a veteran of the Botswana National Front
