Getting to social media everyday has become an interesting adventure. Every day the topic that has dominated the debates has always been the feud between General Khama and the state. This is no longer a case pitying the former president and his successor.
The arrest of the Khama twin brothers has sent big brother boiling at very high temperatures. He was all over the established and mainstream media platforms and social media venting out his frustration.
Truly, Khama is a man full of frustration and one can tell from the way he looks and his body language tells it all. I personally feel sorry for this man who cannot rest at the time of his retirement.
Like it has always been the case with this man, it is the people he surrounds himself with who are failing him. Someone should be telling the man to hang his gloves and forget about winning this bout. He needs to be reminded that he is up against the might of the state with all its apparatus and resources at its disposal.
I do not want to get into any details of what the arrests were all about. I will only indulge myself into the matter after these members of the Ngwato dynasty are given specific charges. Beyond that line, I will be able to debate the case with its merits for both sides.
As we are currently left in the dark as members of the public, there are currently two camps that are at each other’s neck even before we get to hear the details of the crime they may have committed.
The one group is attacking the state for the arrests without charges while the other camp has gone on to defend government’s actions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with finding ourselves with such differences, the trouble is when we passionately deny that the Ngwato dynasty members have not committed any crime.
The sad reality is that it is the poor who are going to great lengths to defend the Khamas. The question is; what have the Khamas done to defend the poor in the past? Nothing! There is no existing example where this “royal” family has gone all out to defend any one of their followers and defenders; let alone members of the tribe.
While we remain speculating on what the Khamas may have offended the state with, one thing we are certain about is that for more than a century, this family has been sustained by this country. This can be traced all the way to Khama III, the man who consolidated the dynasty and imposed it on us as a country.
At the Serowe meeting, one of the elders of the tribe was vowing and swearing that he will fight for the Khama family. For some in Serowe, it is a relationship of master and servant. Some people have remained stuck to the past age of subservience. Those were the days of the lords and serves.
Bangwato must wake up to the realization of the fact that we are now living in a republic. This is a republic that has been created largely by the will of Seretse Khama. At the time of independence, the tribal system in Botswana functioned more like a federation. But it was in the best interests of Seretse Khama to kill the system. The first victim of his grand scheme was the abolishment of bogosi.
By killing bogosi or chieftaincy of the different tribes was to the benefit of Seretse. The major threats came from Kgosi Linchwe of Bakgatla and Kgosi Bathoen Gaseitsiwe of Bangwaketsi.
It is this feudal tribal system that the Khamas have come to exploit for political expediency. This is the very system that their father attempted to kill at independence.
The Khamas have only kept their tribal royal credentials only for their personal benefit and not to the benefit of the tribe. The big question is; what have they done for the tribe since the death of their father?
The Ngwato tribal subjects need to introspect and ask themselves serious questions regarding their seemingly eternal relationship with the Khama dynasty. What have they received in turn for advancing the father and two sons through parliament since independence?
The issue of the Khama family versus the state is not only dividing the nation, the tribe is equally experiencing serious division. The fault lines are evident even in the outlying settlements of Gammangwato. Here it has become mainly a case of generational division. A case of the young against the old. The latter feel obliged to flow with the will of the “royal” family while the former are more inclined to living freely as according to the dictates of the republic.
Given the opportunity, the Khamas would opt for their own federation autonomous from the larger unified Botswana. They are so determined to return to power in every way.
But like Phagenyana Phage once said; if only we could know what it is that we owe to this family, we could then raise a loan to pay them back. Even in the case of having Seleka Springs (Pty) Ltd as the main proprietor of all military contracts and procurement for four decades, they are still not satisfied.
The creation of Botswana Defence Force has certainly paid off for the Khama family than to the nation. The way they have conducted themselves when these privileges were taken away from them raises questions and therefore this raises the need for more probing.
My message to the poor and the unemployed is that; stay away from the issues of the Khama family. They will only use you as cannon fodder for their own ends. It has become evident that this family has never had this nation or the tribe at heart.
