Vusumuzi Dube
Correspondents
FORMER Botswana President Ian Khama’s well-mannered voice barely disguised the anger that he felt.
In several interviews that he gave since 2019, when he began to express dissatisfaction with his hand-picked successor,
Mokgweetsi Masisi, he has talked about him in damning terms.
Masisi was “drunk on power”, Khama told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme five years ago.
Since then, the 71-year-old has gone into exile, spoken about a plot to poison him and has been charged in Botswana with several crimes including money laundering and owning illegal firearms.
Having previously dismissed the charges as being “fabricated”, in September, he returned home and appeared in court for an initial hearing.
The tension between Khama and Masisi coloured the diamond-rich country’s 30 October general election, as the former president actively campaigned for an opposition party.
To the outsider, who might have the general feeling that Botswana is one of the continent’s most stable democracies with strong institutions, this dispute between the two former presidents may have been surprising.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has governed since independence from the UK in 1966.
In a constituency-based system, it has dominated parliament for the last five decades although its share of the vote in recent elections has hovered around 50 percent.
The country’s first president, and Khama’s father, Sir Seretse Khama, was descended from royalty and helped cement Botswana’s reputation for orderly government in the 14 years he was in power up to his death in 1980.
His 1948 marriage to a white British woman, Ruth Williams, was controversial and led to his exile in the UK.
Ian Khama, the couple’s second child, likened his own recent time in South Africa to that of his father’s period away from Botswana.
After having been in the military, he went on to become president in 2008, serving for 10 years.
Despite the dynastic appeal, the shine came off Khama’s government and in the 2014 election the BDP won less than 50 percent of the vote for the first time.
Concerns about corruption, human rights and the state of the economy – with high levels of unemployment – all dented Khama’s popularity.
In the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, funded by Sudanese telecoms mogul Mo Ibrahim, Botswana’s score dropped during his period in power.
The country’s huge diamond reserves have proved lucrative and seen the economy grow, but not enough jobs were being created for the young population and the wealth was not being spread around.
In 2018, Khama handed over the reins of power to his loyal vice-president, Masisi, perhaps hoping that he could still have some influence, but things soon went awry.
One theory is that there was a gentleman’s agreement that Masisi would appoint Khama’s brother, Tshekedi, as vice-president, which he refused to do.
Khama began complaining that his security detail was being cut and that democracy within the BDP was being undermined.
Masisi also reversed some key policies such as a ban on trophy hunting and ended the scepticism towards having closer relations with China.
A year after stepping down as president, Khama then joined the newly formed opposition Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) telling the BBC at the time that the “democracy that we’ve been proud of in this country is now in decline”.
He then went into self-imposed exile in late 2021 alleging that there were threats to his life.
Masisi has batted away the criticism and earlier this year described the poisoning allegation as “shocking”.
“If you look at the history of either killings or murders in Botswana and the methods used, poisoning is not one of the ones we know best, but of late he (Khama) seems to be an expert,” Masisi told France 24, adding that the former president had nothing to fear.
Masisi also said that the arguments Khama has been using against the government and his leadership have been “a litany of inconsistencies”.
There was opportunity to take votes from the government as the problems with the lack of jobs and the accusations of corruption had dogged the current administration.
Furthermore, Khama still commanded a lot of respect in the country, especially among the older voters and in his home area around Serowe, where he is paramount chief and where the BPF launched its manifesto.
In the 30 October polls, voters in Botswana delivered a shock defeat to the party that has ruled them for nearly six decades by handing victory to an opposition coalition and its presidential candidate, Duma Boko.
The 54-year-old of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) replaces President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who on Friday conceded defeat after his BDP lost by a landslide for the first time in 58 years.
“From tomorrow, … I will start the process of handover,” Masisi said in an audio clip of a phone call with Boko that the outgoing leader posted on social media, signalling a smooth transition of power.
“You can count on me to always be there to provide whatever guidance you might want. … We will retreat to being a loyal opposition.”
Chief Justice, Terence Rannowane officially declared Boko the victor on Friday afternoon. “I have the honour and privilege to declare him as elected president of Botswana. I congratulate you profoundly for the confidence that the people have shown in you,” he said.
After that, Boko was sworn in during a closed session at the office of the chief justice. In his first public remarks, the new president-elect said he was humbled by the election outcome.
“I pledge with every fibre of my being that I will do everything I can, not to fail, not to disappoint, appreciating always the enormity of the responsibility bestowed upon me by the people of this republic. It is their government,” he said.
Earlier, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Osupile Maroba told the AFP news agency: “The UDC has reached the minimum requirement to be declared the next government.”
Under the country’s electoral system, the first party to take 31 of 61 seats in the legislature is declared the winner, and can then install its candidate as president and form a government.
The BDP was trailing in fourth place – behind UDC, Botswana Congress Party, and Botswana Patriotic Front – according to partial tallies by the IEC earlier on Friday.
“We got it wrong big time in the eyes of the people,” Masisi, who was seeking a second five-year term in Wednesday’s elections, said at a news conference in the capital, Gaborone.
“We were really convinced of our message. But every indication, by any measure, is that there’s no way that I can pretend that we’re going to form a government.”
The BDP has governed the diamond-rich Southern African nation since 1966 and was expected to win.
‘Change is here’
This was the third time Boko, a human rights lawyer and Harvard Law School graduate, ran for president after contesting in 2014 and 2019. He founded the UDC in 2012 to unite opposition groups against the BDP.
After his win on Friday, he posted on his official page on X: “Botswana First” with a picture of a UDC campaign poster with the words “Change is Here.”
Outgoing President Masisi, a 63-year-old former high school teacher and Unicef worker, had been widely expected to keep his parliamentary majority and serve a second and final term.
Botswana, often held up as one of Africa’s greatest success stories, ranks among the wealthiest and most stable democracies on the continent. But a global downturn in demand for mined diamonds, which account for more than 80 percent of Southern African exports, has taken a toll on the economy.
Economic growth is expected to slow to one percent in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund, down from 2.3 percent last year and 5.5 percent in 2022. Unemployment has risen to 27 percent with an even greater share of young people out of work.
Before the vote, the BDP had acknowledged the need to diversify the economy, pledging to develop new drivers of growth, such as agriculture and tourism.
“I am proud of our democratic processes. Although I wanted a second term, I will respectfully step aside and participate in a smooth transition process,” Masisi said.
More than one million people were registered to vote out of a population of 2.6 million.
The BDP did not “have anything new to offer”, analyst Ringisai Chikohomero of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies told the Reuters news agency.
Full story on www.sundaynews.co.zw
“It was very clear that the president was really relying on incumbency.”
But the UDC put forward ambitious policy proposals, he said, by pledging to more than double the minimum wage, improve social services and create a more independent judiciary. – BBC/Al Jazeera
Online Reporter