The growing power of security institutions
The Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) was established, in the words of the enabling act of 2006, to combat ‘any foreign influenced activity’ and ’subversive activities from the country’s detractors’. Its officers could use Þrearms when ‘necessary and reasonably justifiable’. They had wide powers of arrest, seizure and detention without warrant. Their powers were undefined and threatening – Section 36, for example, provided that ‘when a person is guilty of an offence for which no specific penalty is provided . . . that person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years’ (and, as it recently emerged, agents possessed immunity when operating). Its personnel are appointed on terms and conditions chosen by the President. It was also well funded, being initially expected to get the bulk of the P3 billion given to the Office of the President in early 2008. The existence and role of the DIS is closely identified with President Khama.

Within little more than a year, the threat to human life and lawful government represented by the DIS was apparent. One particular event, and people’s reactions to it, was highly illuminating. On the evening of 13 May 2009, John Kalafatis was shot dead in a hail of bullets in a car at a shopping centre in Extension 12 of Gaborone, the country’s capital. Two others were in the vehicle, which was parked adjacent to a popular bar. Little is known about John Kalafatis, other than that he was a citizen of Botswana and allegedly suspected of burglary. However, it t was quickly reported in the independent press that the killing was an execution carried out by state agents and that it was supposedly the second such shooting within a week.

For the Vice-President, Lieutenant-General Mompati Merafhe, it was a non-event. He was reported as saying that ‘the integrity of this country cannot be determined by one or two shootings’.

Others saw things differently. Dumelang Saleshando, MP for Gaborone Central and information secretary for the opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP), publicly stated that Kalafatis had been killed by the DIS and the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), and that the former was in fact ‘a law unto itself ‘. The Minister for Defence, Justice and Security, Brigadier Ramadeluka Seretse, he further noted in his letter, had recently stated in Parliament that there had been 12 shooting incidents involving police between April 1, 2008 and March 2009 in which eight people were killed.

He noted that the DIS was supposedly overseen by a Tribunal, which was actually made up of the President’s ‘political cronies whose loyalty [was to him]‘. These may well be accurate judgements. Brigadier Seretse is first cousin to Ian Khama, and the members of the Tribunal were Isaac Seloko, a senior figure in the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), chair; Tsetsele Fantan, cousin to Khama; and Adolf Hirschfeldt, former police officer.

At the top in the DIS was the Director, Isaac Kgosi, close associate of Khama during his long years as BDF Commander when Kgosi rose to the head of the elite unit, Military Intelligence (MI), and became senior personal secretary to the Vice-President, 1998-2008.

When the prominent human rights lawyers, Dick Bayford and Duma Boko, announced that they were acting for the Kalafatis family, they alleged that neither John Kalafatis nor the other occupants of the car were armed, and that eyewitnesses’ accounts indicated that the killing was done without any warning. Seretse and the Minister for Communications, Pelonomi Venson-Motoi, held a press conference on May 19, which concentrated on exonerating the President and ignored the substantive issues of May 13. In response to these events, the Law Society of Botswana accused the government of shielding Kalafatis’s killers. ‘Immense fear’ existed in the nation, they said, which appeared to be sliding towards anarchy. Sidney Pilane, who had been Special [Legal] Adviser to President Festus Mogae, publicly accused Khama of autocracy and ruling by fear and patronage.

Pilane stated that the public was weary of ‘a President who places himself at the centre of everything’ and demanded that Khama establish a swift, independent, and credible investigation into all the killings of the past year, and ensure that they ceased.9

As the President’s attorneys threatened to sue the Sunday Standard and the paper announced that, if this happened, they would counter-sue the President (on the assumption that he ‘would have tacitly waived’ his immunity), Dick Bayford expressed what he called the ‘public perceptions’ of President Khama: ‘He is nepotistic, corrupt and misuses government resources for personal and family gain’.

As Vice-President ‘he was contemptuous of Parliament’, and he ‘abused government property’ despite repeated calls from the Ombudsman not to do so. Bayford alleges that under his presidency security agents have killed unarmed citizens and the DIS has spied on people ‘because he is paranoid about being displaced as leader of the ruling party’. Further, the President ’surrounds himself with friends, relatives and sycophants as advisers’.

Information emerged in the independent press on the operations of the security agencies. These reports claimed that MI, an established unit, and the DIS often worked together in both planning and executing operations.

Peter Magosi was head of MI, having been promoted from the position of deputy under Kgosi when the latter left to set up and then direct DIS. Khama and Kgosi had drawn a lot of staff from MI, which formed the core of DIS. A report in Mmegi Online suggested that when DIS agents operated, they appeared to act under the assumption that they had been given orders to shoot.

Moreover, the subordination of the Botswana Police Service, the ostensible law enforcement agency, was standard operational procedure in security areas. When a suspect was shot and killed by the DIS, the Police Service had the task of explaining the incident to the public and protecting the DIS from scrutiny.

If such reports are correct, then testimony from the other occupants of the car, Ray Gare and Joseph Piet, indicates that such procedures appear to have been followed on May 13. They state that four soldiers arrived, with three of them shooting. Then the soldiers disappeared and ‘their supervisors attended to the scene’. Bayford and Boko claimed that the police were ‘actively engaged’ in efforts to frustrate the gathering of evidence.

In June, President Khama withdrew his lawsuit against the Sunday Standard in a statement read on the state-owned BTv news that sought to assure the nation that he was not involved in the death of Kalafatis – but he did not speak in person then or later on the killing. Revelations continued in the press, and in mid-June Bayford and Boko announced that the Kalafatis family would launch a private prosecution against four soldiers, a sergeant and three lance-corporals, named in full in their letter to President Khama (and published in the Sunday Standard).

The basis for the action was that the named individuals, ‘acting in concert . . . brought about the death of John’.The Deputy Police Commissioner, Kenny Kapinga, had informed The Standard in early June that his investigations into the killing would be completed by the end of the month and handed to the Directorate of Public Prosecution, but this did not happen. In answer to a parliamentary question that referred to the deaths of some 14 people at the hands of the security services since April 2008, Minister Seretse declared on June 30: ‘I do not see the need to set up an independent inquiry as a measure to restore confidence of the public in the law enforcement agencies.’ If there had been any drop in conÞdence, he said, it was due to the general increase in the rate of crime.

The ascent of General Ian Khama
During his Presidency General Khama has used the techniques and capacities of personal, militaristic rule to an exceptional degree. Such techniques appear to compensate to some degree for the narrowness of his qualifications for political leadership in a democracy. His experience is restricted to three areas alone: the military; chieftaincy and dynastic politics; and state power, briefly at the highest level. His formal education appears to have peaked at the Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain, 1972-4. His first big experience of preferment was in 1977 when his father, founding President Seretse Khama, appointed him at the age of only 24 as Brigadier in the new BDF, bypassing more experienced and better educated officers in the then Police Mobile Unit. His next career step came in April 1979 when he was installed as Kgosi Khama IV of the Bamangwato in Serowe. The third occurred swiftly in 1998, when he formally resigned as Commander of the BDF on March 31, registered as a member of the BDP, and was appointed as Minister for Presidential Affairs on April 1. The next day Khama was nominated as Vice-President, without reference to any local or national electorate.

Khama made clear where his loyalties lay, and that he moved into high political office on his own terms; that the law and political practice prevented a chief from directly entering politics was of no concern to him.

When approached by President Mogae, he declared: ‘I am a Kgosi. If you want me into politics, then do not ask me to follow Bathoen’s example of abdicating [my chieftaincy].’ He entered government on his own conditions, and brought with him his close attendants from the BDF. He knew that the BDP, riven by factionalism, corruption scandals, and popular anger from the early 1990s, needed him more than he needed them.

As he made explicit: ‘ I allowed myself to be persuaded to leave [the BDF].’ But ‘politics does not attract me . . .

My motivation is management and administration . . . I strive for unity and welfare of the people . . .

countrywide.’ Mogae acceded to his demands. In the view of an experienced ex-minister, Kgosi Khama IV came to ‘wield more power than was ordinarily due to a Vice-President . . . and [acquired] privileges hitherto inconceivable.’
Corruption, factionalism and automatic succession
Growth had reached record levels in Botswana under President Ketumile Masire, and generated greed among his ruling elite. According to Magang, Masire was ‘a Santa Claus’ in an era in the 1980s and early 1990s of ‘literally free, throwaway money’. Easy money and cronyism were the ‘hallmarks of [Masire's] presidency’, as the elite exploited the ministries and agencies for which they were responsible.19 Documented corruption involving Masire and other leading ministers and the imbroglio ‘marked the genesis, in earnest, of cut-throat factionalism in BDP politics’. One camp opposed the introduction of anti-corruption measures, and notably included Daniel Kwelagobe and Ponatshego Kedikilwe.

The other saw that retention of power necessitated reform, and it involved Festus Mogae and Magang. But the factionalism ‘festered and became malignant’. Out of a series of manoeuvres between 1995 and 1998 came the elevation of Mogae and then Khama, both non-party men, as short-term correctives.

The strategy pre-eminently involved the introduction in 1998 of automatic succession of the Vice-President, in order to place Mogae, Masire’s deputy, ‘ beyond the clutches’ of the Kwelagobe-Kedikilwe faction. But according to Magang, it was clearly ‘retrograde and undemocratic’ – Parliament was denied any role in the transition – and, in its second stage concerning Kgosi Khama IV, it was a throw-back to hereditary politics.

Ian Khama and state power
Apart from his declared liking for chieftaincy and the military and his aversion for politics, little is known about Ian Khama. The editor of Mmegi, Gideon Nkala, observed on the eve of his inauguration that everything about Khama was shrouded in secrecy, while for Magang he was simply ‘a closed book’. President Mogae had elevated the Kgosi and worked with him closely for 10 years, but even he could not say in February 2008 how Khama would rule as President.

Two characteristics of Khama’s highly personalised rule during the period 1998-2009 stand out – his reliance on edicts or directives, and decision by caprice. Indications of what was to come were provided at the end of 1998, after the passage of a new Statutory Instrument which banned the serving of alcohol in restaurants except between 12 noon and 2pm and between 6pm and 11pm, regulations which were believed to have been inßuenced by Khama. At 11 pm on New Year’s Eve the measures were enforced for the first time, as police and paramilitary units swarmed into entertainment places across the country, ordering owners to stop selling liquor and arresting customers for illegal consumption.

It is apparent that Khama acted on his distaste for alcohol, and as President he moved to restrict consumption severely. He enforced a tightening of trading hours in liquor shops, and in 2008 imposed a levy of 30 percent on the price of alcohol, with no apparent thought for the effects of these measures on either sales and employment at Kgalagadi Breweries and the entertainment sector, or on interference in people’s private lives.

The Vice-President gained election in the safe BDP seat of Serowe North, and when he prepared to relinquish the seat en route to the presidency – the President of Botswana holds no elected office – he declared at a rally in Serowe in September 2004 that he expected that his younger brother, Tshekedi, would inherit the electorate directly from him, neglectful of democratic norms and BDP practice of primary elections to select parliamentary candidates.

Social behaviour was further addressed by the President in March 2009, when a directive instituted strict and detailed dress codes for civil servants. Declaring that it was ‘mandatory for public employees to dress in a manner that reflects credit on the Public Service’, the instruction threatened punishment and job loss if employees came to work in tight skirts or pants, sleeveless tops, and clothing that showed cleavages or backs, the stomach or underwear. The measures were clearly directed more against women than men.

Arguably the state has endeavoured to extend its control over personal communications, forecasting, at the end of 2006, the installation of a high-tech surveillance network to intercept all cell-phone and electronic mail entering and leaving the country. When the system encountered technical and budgetary problems, the government fell back on the registration of all cell phones and their users. People who had not recorded their identity details by the end of 2009 were threatened with disconnection. President Khama has frequently insisted that democracy demanded discipline, and the latter is arguably his dominant concern.

While problems of alcoholism in the country remain oddly un-deÞned in his government’s discourse, Khama appears convinced that moral weakness abounds. Vice-President Merafhe voiced his agreement that ‘moral decay exist[ed] in society’, and if people failed to heed the President’s warnings they would borrow what he called ’some disciplinary measures from the military’ to instill discipline.

Khama’s moral concerns are, however, not what the people see as their major problems. In a sample survey involving 1,200 adults across the country, Afrobarometer found that economic problems were the primary popular concern, with unemployment at the top, and poverty second – it had risen, they noted, ’sharply and quite substantially’ since 1999, and it ‘continue[d] to grow’. The third issue was rising food prices. Two-thirds of respondents (67 percent) felt that the government had failed badly to tackle job creation; inßation, which had concerned 64 percent of people in 2003-5, troubled 87 percent now.

People attributed these economic problems to the prevailing state system. Respondents believed that President Khama had issued more directives than his predecessors. Popular dislike for rule by one man was strong, climbing from 86 percent in 1992 to 92 percent in 2008. Most people (89 percent) strongly disliked military rule. The survey also noted that ‘perceptions on rule by the military [in Botswana]‘ had grown since April 2008, and people believed that ‘they are making inroads into the civil service’.

Such perceptions may have stemmed from the entry of the military into government that had begun in April 1998, but increased after 1 April 2008. General Merafhe became Vice-President, the former Captain Kitso Mokaila became Minister for Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, and, as noted, Brigadier Ramadeluke took over at Justice, Defence, and Security. Under him came the BDF, the Police Service and DIS, along with the Attorney General, Public Prosecutions, and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime – the DIS, as noted, built upon a cohort of BDF/MI personnel.

The appointment of military men reportedly cascaded downwards, with retired Lieutenant-Colonel Moakohi Modisenyane as general manager of the Central Transport Organization and Colonel Silas Motlalekgosi as head of the Prison Service. Colonel Duke Masilo was appointed as deputy senior private secretary to the President and Tefo Mokaila (brother to Kitso) became private secretary at State House. Later, retired Senior Assistant Police Commissioner, Molefhe Sejoe, was named head of BTv.

Ian Khama’s presidency seems to be not only militaristic but highly personalised in its reliance on a group of trusted loyalists, often from within the family: Tshekedi Khama, brother and MP; Defence Minister Seretse, cousin; Dale Ter Haar, nephew, trained at Sandhurst, engaged in mining and resource projects; Johan Ter Haar, formerly married to Ian’s sister, Jacqueline Khama, chair of the Business and Economic Advisory Council; Isaac Kgosi, DIS chief; Pelonomi Venson-Motoi, ‘very close and trusted friend’, Minister for Communications, in charge of the government’s radio, television, and print networks with their unique nation-wide coverage; Ian Kirby, High Court judge, ex-Attorney General, conÞdante; Sheila Khama, cousin through marriage and head of De Beers Botswana; Tsetsele Fantan, relative to Ian Khama and member of the Tribunal of the DIS; the Mokaila brothers, childhood friends and BDF colleagues; Thapelo Olopeng, retired soldier, little-known Þgure with a long friendship with Khama.

President Khama’s apparent reliance on close loyalists inßuences his leadership style, elevating his military and dynastic personality, and excluding others and especially established institutions and processes from the running of the country. While the government should have been operating under National Development Plan 10 by April 2009, only a draft plan had entered Parliament in July. The President had earlier directed, in an unprecedented move, that the implementation of the new Plan would be suspended for at least 12 months. While the normal planning period in Botswana was six years, NDP 10 would now span seven years.

Khama restricts his own direct communications with the people. The President has never addressed a press conference. In July 2009 he rebu_ed an invitation from the Botswana National Youth Council to participate in a face-to-face debate with other leaders in preparation for national elections in October. The BDP soon followed up his rejection with an order instructing the Youth Council to stop its programme of debates immediately.

Brought into politics to restore the BDP and terminate factionalism, Khama’s failings were visible through mid-2009. His new rubric that ministers could no longer hold senior party positions saw Kwelagobe losing ministerial office, while Khama himself retained his dual presidencies.

Factionalism intensiÞed, as one camp, represented by Education Minister Jacob Nkate and General Merafhe, was actively supported by Khama, while the other, led by Kwelagobe and Kedikilwe, was opposed by the President. At a BDP congress in July, a majority of delegates supported the latter camp in voting from the party ßoor. Rather than seeking conciliation in the cause of party unity ahead of imminent national elections, Khama seemingly used his appointment powers to undermine the winning team and unilaterally suspended the newly elected Secretary General, Gomolemo Motswaledi.

Conclusion
From the warnings of the Law Society to the assessments of Saleshando, Pilane, Bayford, and Afrobarometer, there is marked consensus in Botswana on Khama’s presidency. The editor of the Botswana Gazette, quoting in part a speech by High Court Justice Key Dingake, said that a democratic Botswana needed institutions rather than individuals, and that ‘the cult of personality … will set our political system back to our feudal days’. For the Sunday Standard, Khama’s leadership style was ‘reclusive, divisive, secretive [and] isolationist’. It was contemptuous of civil society, the media, and the opposition, and of the rank-and-Þle of the BDP too.35 Considered in the context of the shooting of Kalafatis, it is thus clear that the rule of law and democracy are seriously undermined in what is often seen as an African success story.

*Kenneth Good (kenneth.good@rmit.edu.au) is Adjunct Professor in Global Studies at RMIT University, Melbourne. This paper appeared in the academic publication African Affairs published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal African Society.

When we returned to London from Oxford, I went to the Trafalgar Square and bought a copy of the Daily Telegraph. It was probably the only British newspaper that morning which carried a two-paragraph story from Africa with a three-word headline: Seretse Khama dies. That was on July 1, 1980. I was among 10 senior journalists from 10 Commonwealth countries of Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe (Africa), India, Jamaica, Gibraltar, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – sent to Oxford University for workshops and seminars on the origins of the Zimbabwean problems as part of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) fellowship programme.

The death of Sir Seretse Khama interested me most because he had just pioneered the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, which later became the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with its headquarters in Gaborone. I mentioned this fact to my ‘comrade’ Vijay Kumar from the Deccan Herald in Bangalore, India. Vijay later in the evening bought – if my memory serves me right – a copy of the Guardian, which had a longer story on Khama, making reference to his “Marriage of Inconvenience” to Ruth Williams, which the Boers in South Africa would not entertain. So Looking at the circumstances under which he was born, Ian, like his father and mother, has to be controversial.

His father defied tribesmen in Serowe who would not allow him to marry a white woman and ’soil’ royalty while his mother defied her family and whites who thought she was crazy to even think of marrying a black man. So when the Gomolemo Motswaledi saga reached its climax and the “three wisemen” at Lobatse High Court ruled in his favour, I went back to the Daily Telegraph morgue in a bid to establish the origins of Khama’s “problems” – and found an obituary on the late Lady Ruth Khama, which should show you, dear reader, why Ian Khama, the first ‘coloured’ head of state in Southern Africa, is probably controversial. It reads:

Lady Khama, who has died aged 79, was the London secretary whose marriage to Seretse Khama, heir to the chieftainship of the Bamangwato tribe in the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, caused a storm in 1948.

As a result, Britain’s Labour Government refused to recognise Seretse Khama, a former undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford, and sent him into exile.

The Colonial Secretary, Patrick Gordon Walker, assured the (House) Commons that there was no outside pressure but, in reality, the government was keen to avoid upsetting South Africa’s new National Government, to the south of Botswana.

Bent on introducing apartheid, South Africa was horrified by the prospect of a mixed marriage. What was more, it had the power to withhold supplies of uranium that were vital for Britain’s nuclear industry.

Dr Daniel Malan, prime minister of the new National government in South Africa, pronounced the marriage “nauseating”. Even Trevor Huddlestone, later the archbishop of the Indian Ocean and a sainted opponent of apartheid, advised Sir Evelyn Baring, the High Commissioner to South Africa as well as Bechuanaland, against recognising Khama as chief of the Bamangwato; though he later regretted it.

The exasperated Prime Minister Clement Attlee complained privately: “We are invited to go contrary to the desires of the great majority of the Banangwato tribe, solely because of the attitude of the Union of South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. It’s as if we had been obliged to agree to Edward VIII’s abdication so as not to annoy the Irish Free State and the USA.”

Lady Khama was born Ruth Williams at Blackheath, south east London, on December 9 1923, the daughter of a former captain in the Indian Army who worked in the tea trade.

She was in the family home when it was bombed during the Blitz, and left Eltham High School to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She drove ambulances at the airfields of No 11 Fighter Group and served at the emergency landing station near Beachy Head.

After the return of peace, she became a confidential clerk in the claims department at Cuthbert Heath, the Lloyds underwriters. She rode, ice-skated and went ballroom dancing in her spare time, meeting her future husband, a law student living in a hostel near Marble Arch, through their mutual interest in jazz.

Although their initial meeting, when they were introduced by her sister, was not a success, the friendship matured through their enthusiasm for the Inkspots.

The sight of a black man with a white woman was then a rarity in London, and there were some unpleasant incidents in which she was branded a cheap slut by strangers.

After Seretse proposed and she accepted, the couple assumed they would return to Bechuanaland. But problems quickly developed. Her father said she could stay in the family home, then ordered her out; her boss offered a transfer to New York or the sack; she left at the end of the week.

When Seretse wrote to his uncle Tshekedi, the Regent in Bechuanaland, the London Mission Society was pressed to try to prevent the wedding. Sir Evelyn sent warning telegrams from Cape Town to the Commonwealth Office.

Three members of the Mission Society turned up at St George’s, Campden Hill, and threatened to object during the ceremony. When Seretse and Ruth complained, the vacillating vicar referred them to the Bishop of London, Dr William Wand, who was conducting an ordination ceremony nearby at St Mary Abbot’s in Kensington.

The young couple sat through this ceremony, but were then told by him that a marriage could not take place until the British Government agreed. In the end they were married, after some difficulty, in a register office.

The couple then went to Bechuanaland, where Seretse told a tribal rally: “Stand up those who will not accept my wife”; he counted them and shouted, “40″. He then asked: “Stand up those who want me and my wife”; 6,000 stood up and applauded for 10 minutes.

But as the couple awaited the birth of their first child, Gordon Walker told Khama that he was being exiled from Bechuanaland for five years, which Winston Churchill, leader of the Opposition, described as “a very disreputable transaction”. But when the Tories returned to power “not less than five years” of exile was changed to “indefinitely”.

The Khamas returned to England in 1950, where Seretse continued his legal studies and Ruth kept house at Addiscombe, Croydon. Although she didn’t really believe it, she used to tell him she had a telepathic feeling they would be allowed to return.

Anthony Wedgewood Benn steered a motion through a Labour party conference calling for their return. Not to be outdone, the Conservative government offered Khama a diplomatic post in Jamaica, though in reply he asked why, if he was not considered good enough to rule his own people, he should be allowed to play an administrative role in the West Indies.

One happy result of the exile was that Seretse and Ruth’s father became reconciled.

Then, in 1956, he heard he was being allowed back after his people had cabled the Queen. “The Bamangwato are sad. Over our land there is a great shadow blotting out the sun. Please put an end to our troubles. Send us our real Chief – the man born our Chief – Seretse”.

Before the government could change its mind, Seretse hurried to London airport, leaving Ruth to sell their house and car and then follow three weeks later.

They settled down in Serowe, where Seretse consolidated his cattle farm and formed the Botswana Democratic Party; although he disclaimed a desire for the chieftainship, he gradually took over from the Regent. As such he was knighted, became first prime minister of Bechuanaland, and then president of the republic of Botswana, which remained in the Commonwealth.

Lady Khama never spoke any local languages, and remained a keen reader of Reader’s Digest and National Geographic. But she was kept busy bringing up their four children and playing a leading role in charity work. One of her particular delights lay in attending Commonwealth conferences.

After her husband’s death in 1980, there was some speculation that Lady Khama might settle in London, but she had no intention of leaving.

She was president of the Red Cross of Botswana and the Botswana Council of Women while running the Lady Khama Christmas Charity Fund; she also played a key role in the Queen’s visit in 1979. Lady Khama was known as Mohumagadi Mma Kgosi (Mother of the Chief) since her eldest son is chief, but also, colloquially, as “the Queen Mother”.

Ironically, there was a ripple of surprise in 1990 when her son Tony, named in honour of Tony Benn, announced that he wanted to marry a South African white girl from the rural Afrikaner stronghold of Rustenberg across the border.

Lady Khama warned that there might be some trouble with conservative tribal elders, though once again fear of South African hostility played a part in it.

Lady Khama is survived by her daughter and three sons, of whom the eldest, Lieutenant General Ian Khama, is vice-president of Botswana.

So Khama may be a victim of circumstances, but the rest of the world will be watching whether like Barak Obama in the United States (US), Ian Khama is the breath of fresh air that SADC and Africa in general needs. What will his legacy be?
(Sila Press Agency)

Ian Khama was imposed on Batswana by former president Festus Mogae who was imposed by his predessesor Sir Ketumile Masire and Ian Khama will choose and impose his brother Tshekedi who will then pave way for Anthony after 10 years. There has been a lot of excitement that Khama possesses the so-called Khama magic, which I have hitherto failed to see. I have on several occasions tried to put my ear on the ground in search of any positive developments brought by Ian. Unfortunately I can’t find any. Ian Khama was recruited in to politics with an agenda to come and unite the warring BDP due to the recommendation made by the South African political scientist Professor Lawrence Schlemmer. However, Ian entrenched factionalism in the BDP to the extent that he is now leading the annihilated A – team faction sometimes known as the Nkate and Merafhe faction.

He has failed to understand that factionalism in the BDP is insurmountable and belligerent. Basically he has not fulfilled the mandate he was brought to deliver on since uniting the BDP has eluded him. Khama is not a democrat despite bragging during his inauguration that he went to the military to defend democracy. Who was he trying to fool? We all know that he joined the military to defend his father who was the president by then. Remember Ian Khama was recruited to become a brigadier at the age of 24 surpassing all the well-deserving soldiers in the army! What qualification(s) did he posses to be guaranteed that post as his academic /educational credentials are kept surreptitiously in this country. The appointing authority was his late father. Is this not corruption? Father appointing son! Despite bragging that he is a democrat Khama has hitherto failed to abide by the results of the BDP congress in Kanye where his sycophants got a total white wash. Even though the BDP members voted for people of their choice, Ian Khama unilaterally filled the central committee and its subcommittees with his puppets. Khama has killed and continues to kill inner-party democracy within BDP. He is God to some unthinking BDP members. No one is allowed to differ with him – ask Daniel Kwelagobe, Botsalo Ntuane, Pono Moatlhodi and Gomolemo Motswaledi. A lot of people from the Barata Phati faction are very virulent about him; unfortunately others have sworn to die in silence in their desperate endeavor to protect their political ambitions.

Ian Khama did not relinquish his position as the Paramount Chief of Bangwato when becoming the so-called “politician”, which effectively means that he is sitting on three chairs at the same time (president, chief, soldier). These actions totally defeat the notion of separation of powers. It was in 1972 when his late father, then president introduced the requirements that the chief has to have resigned his chieftainship post five years before qualifying for parliamentary elections. Tawana Moremi of Batawana renounced his chieftainship when he joined politics. Did this apply to Ian? No! A question of double standards. Ponatshego Kedikilwe had this to say about Khama while he was still at VP “the VP seems to enjoy powers that no other politicians who will subsequently hold that position office will be entitled to. Do you think that the next VP will fly helicopters even if he is be a pilot)”? Ian Khama has developed democrats to be docile, timid and fearful, you disagree with him, you are doomed, ask Motswaledi! Prior the 2009 Kanye BDP congress he publicly endorsed and campaigned for his A – Team faction against the Barata Phati. He even went to the extend of humiliating the veteran Daniel Kwelagobe dismissing him as old and very sick. Worst of all Khama handpicked BDP parliamentary candidates for 2009 in Gaborone and deployed them in constituencies chosen by him disregarding the BDP’s laid down democratic procedures for primary elections. The war between BDP factions is based on who is Khama’s best bootlicker. Stooges, praise poets and sycophants are associated with Ian Khama so that they be rewarded with either ambassadorial posts, specially elected to parliament or nominated to councillors. Remember the words of the perpetual loser Tebelelo Seretse to Ian Khama “ke lelope la gago”. Ian Khama is a person who cannot be trusted, remember he said he didn’t want cabinet ministers to occupy central committee positions only to renege on his word and appoint Nkate and Merafhe. Khama shares certain traits with Alhaji Field Marshall Idi Amin Dada (CBE, Conqueror of the British Empire), they are men of several titles. Khama also has some tendencie,s which were displayed by some autocratic African leaders such as Daniel Arap Moi who used to donate millions of shillings for community projects and contribute milk to school children. Ian Khama portrays himself as a generous Father Christmas who gives out food handouts to people who deserve proper services from his BDP government. He normally raises money for medical fees for the sick and footballers. He at one stage dished out soccer balls and other commodities in his lame attempt to build his own personality cult, a pseudo-philanthropist! During the race for the BDP chairmanship against Ponatshego Kedikilwe in 2003, Khama bribed and bought votes by donating chairs, tent, sewing machines and a combi to the BDP Women’s Wing. Just like Idi Amin who considered himself a nationalist but took major development projects to his area of birth, we assume Khama used his informal prerogative to decide on the location of the second university to Serowe/Palapye. Serowe is his home village; the government task force’s recommendation had cited Selebi Phikwe. Most of the developments are taking place in the central districts. Ian Khama is an autocrat who quashes dissenting voices and rules with an iron fist, ask Professor Kenneth Good. Before he became a Khama convert Oliphant Mfa once stated that when Khama becomes head of state, democracy would be enjoyed by those in their graves and in jail. Indeed, an accurate prediction. The outspoken and eloquent Boyce Sebetela was so scared of Ian Khama to the extent that he ran from parliament to go and work in the mines. Khama is a dictator and a political novice who lacks vision and consciousness. He has always remained silent on major challenges facing the country, he is a person born with the qualities of a dictator and raised to become one. He inherited most of what he has (puppets, wealth, land and societal position) from his father. Khama has always been treated with kids gloves, he enjoys special coverage from BTV, Daily News and government radio stations. Remember Mompati Merafhe vacated the commander post at BDF for him, Roy Blackbeard vacated the Serowe North constituency for him, PHK vacated the BDP chairmanship for him and just last year Festus Mogae vacated the presidency for him (o tlwaetse go sutelwa). Khama failed in his coordination on the work of all ministries and ensuring the implementation of government programs, policies and project sanctioned by parliament while he was VP Ian Kgama has never written an application letter applying for a job, neither has he ever boarded a taxi nor paid rent in his life. He has not entered politics to serve the nation but to increase and accumulate wealth. Khama demanded a sabbatical leave even before he commenced his work as VP and later demanded to be given a cabinet post without portfolio. Khama never attended parliament, but received sitting allowances, his silence became legendary, he only spoke/commented during the debate about salary increments he verbally castigated, insulted and vilified MPs calling them vultures when they asked for salary increases while he himself made and earned a lot. When his salary was assessed he was awarded and he accepted increment that far surpassed that of the then president Mogae. Khama created or must I say he introduced the notorious Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS) and it is headed by his longtime friend and his ex-private secretary Colonel Isaac Kgosi. The DIS tribunal is headed by a BDP central committee member Isaac Seloko. The DIS is a tool used to intimidate and harass people. Speculation is rife that they are now torturing civilians and killing people after the uncivilized and barbaric murder of John Kalafatis, Khama’s deputy Mompati Merafhe lamented that one or two killings cannot shake our good name. Shame on him! Mark my words, after the general elections people are going to disappear. They will die of horrific deaths like being burnt alive and deliberately planned accidents. The main motive behind the establishment of DIS is to spy on the opposition, Barata Phati faction and other people perceived to be enemies of Khama. We suspect that the 200 million allocated to DIS for which it cannot be held accountable is meant to finance the ruling party ’s campaign for the 2009 election, remember that in Zambia, the money for the intelligence agency was used to lobby for a third term for former president Frederick Chiluba. The Khama administration is now on an endeavor to invade people’s privacy and civil liberties of citizens by the registration of simcards. This is a product of DIS. I have to point out that the Khama family is the worst enemy of opposition politics in independent Botswana. The Khama dynasty is responsible over the years for weakening and disintegration the opposition since independence. It has been said that Ian ’s father used state machinery such as secret police and the special branch to spy on the late Dr K Koma. It has been reported that at one stage the secret police stole a bag from Dr Koma whilst on a journey by train and stories are told of peoples’ passports being seized at the airport by the Seretse Khama regime as they were prevented from travelling to what the government perceived to be an unacceptable destination. Ian is pursuing his father’s agenda. Colonel Kgosi who is Khama’s friend has a long history with the BDF intelligence unit and is now playing role similar to Malawian dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda’s young Pioneers. When he became the president, Ian Khama started militarising the society, government and government departments. Basically he installed soldiers into key civil service positions in order to ensure that he is surrounded by puppets and yes-men who will not question his authority. The current cabinet is composed of a large number of retired soldiers Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, Captain Kitso Mokaila, Brigadier Ndelu Seretse (Ian Khama’s first cousin) whose agenda is to keep Ian’s presidency safe. The general manager of Central Transport Organisation (CTO) is Colonel Moakofi Modisenyane, the General Manager of Btv is Mr. Molefhe Sejoe a former senior police officer. Colonel Duke Masilo is the deputy senior private secretary to the president, while Kitso Mokaila’s brother Tefo is what his father was to Seretse Khama by being the private secretary of the state house. It is indeed, true that, soldiers without the requisite skills are appointed to senior government positions. Kaman surrounds himself with friends, relatives and bootlickers as advisors. Some of his praise poets and bootlickers like to scream loud about how many times he won elections. They tend to forget that the majority of people who voted for him ceased thinking 43 years ago and surrendered their own brains to Seretse Khama. Its only hooligans who can defend Khama’s lackluster and uninspiring leaders. Only opportunists and fools are haranguing him. His capabilities are just exaggerated. Ian Khama’s presidency is a threat to the nations stability; he is a commander in chief who does not abide by the rules and law. Since he became President last year, the country has been bombarded with all manner of presidential directives unprecedented in the country. Parliament is usually ignored on major decisions involving huge sums of money; he undermines the country’s existing administrative structures by ruling through decrees. Ian Khama unilateralism and populist initiatives paid little attention to the 2008/2009 budgets passed by parliament. The NDP 10 just like NDP 9 will become just another document as it hardly spearheads or guides development. Vision 2016 has now been replaced by the 4D’s – Khama’s personal creation. Discipline has now become the buzzword. While other leaders were busy trying to come up with rescue plans to offset the effects of the global financial crisis or save their countries from the harsh economic onslaught, Khama continues to sit around the fire during the day listening to folktales with elderly people. Khama has without consultation introduced limited hours to operate bars, restaurants, clubs and even entertainment activities such as festivals. Botsalo Ntuane was reprimanded and forced to publicly apologise for his reservations on the liquor issue. The Ian Khama-led government has become so arrogant, intolerant and insensitive to the extend that they passed the draconian hefty traffic fines and the Media Practitioners Act without even calling for a full debate at parliament. This will certainly be a way of impairing the rights to freedom of speech and expression. Parliament has now become a rubberstamp of the executive decisions; bills are rushed into parliament without debate. In conclusion there is no doubt that Khama is a liability, he has never held a press conference or addressed journalists on his spontaneous and populist policies, during his time as the commander of BDF, private news papers were at one stage banned from being sold in the barracks. Ian Khama and his entourage of surrogates spent P1363 2 64 on his visit to USA recently for an unnecessary meeting on the board of conservation international. Newspaper reports indicate that Khama has hitherto failed to give a statement on Nchindo’s case. This is risky for the country and challenges his efforts to curb corruption. Khama withdrew his threat to sue a local newspaper for defamation for fear of being declared an illegitimate president. By threatening to sue the newspaper he wanted to divert the nation’s attention from the real issue of extra-judicial killings by the security officers. Arafat Khan BNF YOUTH LEAGUE SPOKESPERSON

It is an open secret that Vice President Mompati Merafhe will not take over from Khama after 10 years. There is a school of thought that Merafhe will only hold the fort until 2014.

Initially it was felt that Merafhe would only serve for a period of not more than two years after last year’s general elections and then the heir would be identified. But a Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) insider said Merafhe will serve the whole five year term as VP. The only reason why Merafhe might not continue as the Vice President after 2014, might have something to do with his advanced age. In 2014, Merafhe will be close to 80 years.

President Khama appointed Merafhe as his deputy following his inauguration in 2008. He re-appointed him to be the Vice President after last year’s general elections.

Before Khama made his announcement, it was not clear who was going to be the Vice President. Other names that were bandied were those of former cabinet ministers Jacob Nkate and Neo Moroka. The two men are now out of the picture.

But Khama played his cards close to the chest and only made his pronouncement on the final day.

On the eve of last year’s general elections, there was also speculation that Khama might appoint the vice president who is going to succeed him. Names that were mentioned included that of former Minister of Health and World Health Organisation (WHO) official, Joy Pumaphi.
But Khama still decided to stick by the man whom he shared army barracks with. Now the big question is, who will take over from Khama?

According to some theories, one of the likely successors to the throne could be Ramadeluka Seretse who is also Khama’s cousin. Seretse is currently at number three in government and is a man who is known to be close to Khama. Just like Khama and Merafhe, Seretse has also served in the army and retired at the rank of Brigadier.

According to the grapevine, the idea was that Khama would hand over to Seretse who would at a later stage pass on the baton to Khama’s younger brother Tshekedi Khama.

The intense fight last year between the barata-phati and A-team factions of the BDP was said to have been fueled by this succession plan.
Members of the barata-phathi faction were said to have been opposed to this succession plan. The Barata-phati have also made it clear that they are against automatic succession.

Another candidate who could get the nod is, the Minister of Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila who is also one of Khama’s confidants. Like most people in Khama’s inner circle, Mokaila is also a former military man. Mokaila might also be favoured because he is from the South. To balance the equation, Khama might be forced to choose a vice president from the South. Since the time when President Sir Ketumile Masire who came from the South, stepped down in 1998, all the presidents have been from the North namely; Serowe. Botswana has had three presidents who were from Serowe, including Khama’s father, the late Sir Seretse Khama.

During the era of Khama’s predecessors, it was always clear who would take over.

When former President Masire, announced that he was going to step down, it was logical that his next in command, Festus Mogae would take over. There was a smooth transition as Mogae took over from Masire.

The same thing applied when Mogae stepped down.

But President Khama has proved to be his own man and even his leadership style is different from those of his predecessors.

As the BDP leader, his emphasis has been on discipline.
But for Khama, indiscipline seems to mean when someone differs with him. Since he took over, Khama has marginalised members of the barata-phati faction and even excluded them from his cabinet. Since Khama took over, more BDP members have seen themselves facing disciplinary action. This has led to some party members being banished. The BDP leadership is still on a witch hunt.

It was during Khama’s reign that BDP factions reached their peak. But ironically Khama was roped into politics to quell factions in the BDP.
Last year, when the BDP held the Kanye congress, Khama was sympathising with one of the factions.

He was even campaigning for members of the A-team, under the pretext that he was supporting women. Khama said he would not find it easy to work with Daniel Kwelagobe who was contesting the chairman’s post.

Khama and other BDP leaders like Nkate and Tebelelo Seretse attacked Kwelagobe in public. But they were never subjected to any disciplinary action. After the Kanye elections, Khama did not want to hear anything about the barata-phathi victory. He diluted the central committee with A-team members and took unilateral decisions.

Even his party went for the general elections more divided than ever before.

KASANE – President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has told Chobe residents that the nomination of Kgosi Moffat Sinvula of Mabele to Ntlo ya Dikgosi was based on his capabilities.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Pandamatenga, General Khama said he was not looking at geographical locations when he nominated Kgosi Sinvula.

The President was responding to complaint from a resident who told the meeting that the office of the district commissioner had not responded to the letter they had written on the issue.

The residents had written a letter to the district commissioner querying the appointment of Kgosi Sinvula and Kgosi Mmualefhe Mmualefhe from Chobe enclave west to represent the area at Ntlo ya Dikgosi, saying that left their area unrepresented.

Residents felt that another leader should have been chosen from Chobe Enclave East.

General Khama further told them that he saw nothing wrong to appoint the two people from the same area, adding that he and the vice president were also from Serowe and still people did not complain about it.

He said special nominations were done based on the capabilities of individuals not places where they came from, saying the nationa will suffer a great setback if appointments were to be done based on places of origin or geographical locations.

When I appointed Kgosi Sinvula as a special nominee to Ntlo ya Dikgosi I did not consider that another area representative, Kgosi Mmualefhe comes from Kachikau which is near. There are various reasons that I considered.

The president further urged the community to support those who had been nominated so that they were successful in their endeavour to serve the public.

He told the meeting that he had instructed the minister of local government to increase the number of nominated councillors with more women and the youth.

For his part, agriculture minister, Mr Christian De Graaff told the meeting that the Pandamatenga infrastructure development project would start next year October, saying the projects would include internal roads and drainage system.

Mr De Graaff said his minister was working hard to make it possible for farmers to use genetically modified seeds in Pandamatenga so that they were able to compete with other countries.

We are looking at protocol to ensure that next ploughing session the genetically modified seeds can be used.

Regarding the of qualified birds and floods that destroyed crops in the farms last year, he said the government had agreed to help farmers with the cut-off date after which sorghum and millet would not be allowed in the lands as a way of avoiding the quilea birds.

Youth in the Pandamatenga also complained that they could not access youth programme in the area, citing shortage of land in the area as the problem.

Botswana site

GABORONE – Ministers have declared their assets to President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

Minister for Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Ramadeluka Seretse said at a media briefing, Monday, that the move was a response to calls from some quarters that politicians should declare their assets.

The first person to be concerned about the lavish life of ministers, he said, should be the President.

He said the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) had been performing fairly well in combating corruption through prevention, investigation and public education.

Botswana instantly became a destination for benchmarking and learning anticorruption initiatives, he said basing on recent visits by Zimbabwe and China.

We are emulated by many, both those who are in the process of forming their own anticorruption organs and those who have been around long back before the DCEC was even an idea.

The minister said as much as there was need for the DCEC to be transparent in its dealings, the media should understand that peoples names are involved and as such release of information had to be done cautiously.

Mr Seretse regretted that they have had instances of people complaining about leakage of information from the DCEC, a scenario that is often complex because several people were involved during investigations.

He said it was against this backdrop that the DCEC needed to be cautious when disseminating information as it was expected to maintain highest confidentiality.

Minister Seretse also stated that law enforcement agencies should not work against each other in the fight against corruption and crime. It should be a combined effort.

He said corruption was rampant in government as many cases have been unveiled, which have resulted in prosecution and conviction.

Next year, he said, government would bring experts to assist in particular skills impartation for DCEC personnel.

In her remarks, DCEC director, Mrs Rose Seretse said Botswana continues to be rated the least corrupt country in Africa and one of the least corrupt in the world.

However, the director said this did not in anyway mean that there was no corruption in Botswana.

In fact, corruption in Botswana is becoming increasingly complex and challenging.

The biggest challenge this year has been in the area of procurement followed by land and fraud in the form of cheques.

Mrs Seretse said there was also a growing trend of cheating in examinations.

She also thanked the media for being watchdogs of her department adding that some of the cases they were investigating were picked from the media.

Botswana Site

The children thronged the Presidents home in large numbers on Christmas Day.

President Khama gives Serowe children gifts on an annual basis on behalf of the Lady Khama Charitable Foundation.

Councillor for Serokolwane, Mr Molefhi Setlalekgosi praised President Khama and his brother Anthony, for their generosity.

He said the duo followed in the footsteps of their father, Sir Seretse Khama and mother, Lady Ruth Khama who used to give to the needy on a regular basis.

He said President Khama has been ensuring that children have a joyous Christmas through donation of gifts on an annual basis.

Siele noted that all International Civil Aviation member states are expected to have complied with the issuance of machine readable documents by 2010.
The document will be issued out next year in January, to regional, district and Botswana missions and embassies.  The passport is to be machine readable and should be a secure document.
Giesecke and Devriet Company was engaged to develop the e-passport and  border control system.

In other countries, people would celebrate this as a small step towards transparency. But small steps, though often commendable, can mislead because democracy does not grow incrementally, as some in our political leadership may argue. While democracy is a continuing project, there is nowhere – in theory of practice – where the teaching is for democracy to be done in bits and pieces.

Granted it is important to proceed with deliberation and with critical attention to the result, but being so methodical does not necessarily mean being slothful and tardy. Yet what the Executive is doing is not even proceeding with deliberation; its pure theatre.

We shall not celebrate this new regime in which men and women prostrate themselves before the President to confess their sins and sing his praises.

The first problem we have with this is that a motion calling for a declaration of assets has been debated in Parliament and those who were present then know that the new regime is a mockery of the principles that informed the very idea.

Assets are not declared for the mere objective of letting the Boss know where you may be compromised. A Register for a Declaration of Assets, in progressive democracies, is meant to give the public confidence in their representatives by presenting them as honest men and women who have nothing to hide.This is for the compelling fact that elected representatives should be in office to serve the interests of their constituencies and the wider interests of the nation.

While it is a fact that ministers are appointed by the President and are therefore answerable to the President, that should be the case only to the extent that the President is him/herself answerable to the public that is the ultimate for both.

For the President appoints the cabinet on behalf of the voting public, hence there could be no benefit to the public when cabinet ministers declare their interests to only the President. Such an arrangement is but a private rendezvous behind closed doors consciously calculated to keep the public ignorant. But how does an ignorant public vote properly?

Secondly – and more importantly – where does the President declare his/her interests? In a regime in which the President is not expected to declare his interests in a public register, the purpose is reduced to an exercise in futility.

In such a cynical situation, what should the public make of the proverb that a fish starts rotting from the head?

It makes us shudder, to say the least. And that is the reason we prefer to start from the head: President Khama must simply lead by example and declare his assets and interests to the public.

Today’s thought

“Politics, as the word is commonly understood,are nothing but corruption.”

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They warned against waging attacks against the President.
Some of the senior officials who spoke in defence of Khama were the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Ndelu Seretse and the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Johnnie Swartz.

Swartz said Khama did not attack anyone in his speech, including the opposition. He said Khama’s speech was all-embracing and appealing for unity.

He warned Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Members of Parliament (MPs) not to behave like opposition members.

He said the BDP lost some constituencies due to internal feuds. However, he said, he does not know how the party lost the Kgalagadi South constituency to the Botswana National Front (BNF).

Swartz said it is the BDP members who could destroy the party.
He continued that there is fear that people are being expelled from the civil service, but he does not know what the hullabaloo is all about. “We should be asking why they are being expelled,” he said.

Seretse also expressed concern about attacks on Khama. He called on other politicians to respect Khama as the head of state.

He said if there is need for a constitutional review it should be done with dignity. Seretse said it is not true that Cabinet ministers are against a constitutional review.

He said the Constitution must be reviewed for valid reasons and not just because some people have an axe to grind. He compared the constitution to a foundation of a building.

He said every time when there is a crack in the ceiling, “you do not dismantle the foundation”.

He told the House that the government is looking at the formulating the law reform process.

Seretse called on MPs to represent the views of the voters and not their own interests.
Seretse also took a swipe at politicians who are promoting tribalism. To him, tribalism is a scourge that could wreck the nation. “Tribalism is an enemy of the nation.” He said if people started identifying themselves by their tribes, it would cause chaos in the nation.
Seretse also spoke about nation-building.

Regarding security, the minister said Khama has made it clear in his speech about efforts that will be taken to combat crime.

Contrary to views, he said, Batswana are content about the security measures that are taken to protect them.

He said the government has indicated that the security agencies are there to protect the nation. He noted that if any security agent took the law into his own hands, he would be brought to book.

Seretse said they have disclosed that cases of people who were killed by security agents are being investigated. He revealed that they have referred some of the cases to the prosecution division.

As for the fight against stock theft, he said there are magistrate courts, which are exclusively dealing with such cases. There is also a police section, which is devoted to tackling stock theft cases.

One of the legislators, Slumber Tsogwane, asked him why all the stock theft cases could not be handled by the customary courts. The MP’s concern is that people feel that the magistrate courts are not competent to deal with stock theft cases.

But Seretse said every suspect has a constitutional right to have legal representation. He said stock theft cases could not be confined to the customary courts because the suspects would be deprived of legal representation.

In any event, customary courts have also been trying stock theft cases, the minister said. He spoke about plans to introduce livestock experts who will assist magistrates when presiding over stock theft cases.