It will end in tears!
“Bodiba bo jeleng ngwana wa ga mmago…” Mmualebe (R.M Malope, 1983)
Mokgweetsi, where are we headed? Is it not time to log distress call, “mayday, mayday, mayday,” before we crash? I mean,
there are too many things going on at the same time; too many distractions. There is the National Petroleum Fund fraud still to solve, ‘Butterfly’ is yet to know whether she will fly free or go to jail, there is Afriforum mess to deal with, there are frequent ‘in and outs’ at government enclave and worse off, there is COVID-19. Mokgweetsi, are you really in control? The rise and inevitable fall from grace of Kgosi can be attributed solely to his handler, former President, Ian Khama. In the fog of power, Khama just lost control of Kgosi. By the time the fog cleared, Kgosi had firmly asserted himself as a centre of power. In a short space of time, Kgosi had evolved from being a centre of power, to being power itself. And all credit to him; Kgosi had power, abundance of power. But unchecked power is an opiate. In a while, Kgosi had successfully summersaulted Khama. Instead of being handled, he was the one handling Khama. And poor Khama just like the rest of the nation, became a spectator, watching helplessly as Kgosi embarked on an ambitious endeavour to be god. Kgosi took total control of Khama. He determined what Khama heard and saw. He even determined friends and foes for him. The only thing he left for Khama was showmanship and it was for a reason. Khama was free to go on his beloved renta-Messiah and show his Polka moves. However, to Kgosi, these roadshows were an important distraction to oversight that Khama ought to have exercised on his trustee. But it all ended in tears.
I am afraid, Masisi has fallen in the same trap that Khama fell into, a helpless and hapless victim of intelligence manipulation. Their exploits may help one to stay in power, but often at the cost of the renunciation of their own prerogatives. This scenario is best captured by Shakespeare’s in Macbeth where it says, “Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance; therefore, much drink
I am afraid, Masisi has fallen in the same trap that Khama fell into, a helpless and hapless victim of intelligence manipulation
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.” That is, Masisi may be in power, but without power. And this may end in tears. Sisiboy! So near, yet so far! Although, French philosopher, Jean de La Bruyères cautions that, We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.I have taken the caution, of course with exception, because really, to grasp the pains of power, we must talk to those who have it, and to know its pleasures, we must talk about those who seek it.
President Masisi ought to fully understand the fundamentals of power in polity and body-politic thereof. In polity, power is of essence in the same way energy is, in physics. If he fails to grasp this fundamental relationship, he runs the risk of being in power, but without power. Yet since the end of Khama’s dictatorship and the return of civilian power in 2018, little or nothing has been done to tame petty fights in intelligence services, which seems to have taken an increasingly active role in undermining bureaucratic stability. Masisi ought to know that every age has its group of intelligence chiefs who declare that the world is increasingly chaotic and unpredictable lest their word is equated to the word of God. Kgosi had brilliantly drilled this into Khama’s psychosis and it all ended in tears for both of them. Unfortunately, that scenario seems to be replaying itself. My sincere advice to President Masisi is that, ‘bodiba bo jeleng ngwana wa ga mmago, e re o bo bona, o bo dikologe.’ Intelligence services by default, comes with power, because knowledge is power.