Letter to Seretse
Dumela Phuti. I am writing this to you while travelling on a bumpy corrugated Mohembo-Gudigwa road in Ngamiland. Sometimes driving here, I feel like I am in another country. On my left is the scenic Okavango River while on the right is abject poverty. The area still looks almost the same as in the 1980s. I am probably getting ahead of myself as I did not mean to start with a bumpy road, but the world is on some craze ride and there is sadness all over.
The world is in the middle of a pandemic called COVID-19. The pandemic has changed and taken many lives. We get quarantined inside our houses like we are some animals. There are movement restrictions, curfews, and liquor bans – just imagine. As I write this letter to you, just the other day Edison’s son (Mokgweetsi Masisi) banned liquor sales throughout the country because the government believes imbibers are not following COVID-19 protocols and causing more transmissions. The economy is on its knees because of this pandemic and life, in general, is hard.
The country is still a welfare state as many people rely on handouts from government. Although it is no longer malutu and USAID cooking oil, the handouts are not uplifting humans to a level of self-reliance. Even the current crop of leaders still has such a mentality.
When COVID-19 first arrived in Botswana in 2020 with just three confirmed positive cases, the government overreacted like a model welfare state by locking everyone up – even people that live on islands in the Okavango Delta – and supplied food parcels for a month.
It turned out to be a big waste of resources and an unsustainable response by leaders who are failing to promote a national self-reliant mentality as you did in the 1960s when you built Botswana from scratch. At the moment the people believe leaders are just working in government to enrich themselves, their lovers and friends. There is rampant corruption. Edison’s son actually won the last General Election with promises that he would clean the new government and would have zero tolerance for any graft. But many people are starting to call Edison’s son ‘Talk-Talk’ saying he is not delivering on the election mandate.
The last time I wrote something to you was when Edison’s boy was turning a year into the presidency. On the political front, a lot has changed since our last letter. Ian and Tshekedi (Khama brothers) have left Domkrag. Unbelievable. They formed a new party by the name Botswana Patriotic Front. They adopted yellow and black as their party colours. Ian is the patron, you should see him in a yellow jacket.
Well he is actually the de facto leader and last month their president was embroiled in some sex scandal and it looks like he will be fired from the party. Ian’s party contested for the general elections and won three seats in Parliament, all from Serowe constituencies. Bangwato could not vote against their Kgosi. Dikwete tsa ga go are still loyal and love your children. Their move to a new party proved that they will defend him to the grave, so it was widely expected that they would win Serowe and indeed they did.
But your boy is still mad at Edison’s son. Three years later, they are still not coming out clear as to why there is such an estrangement between them. Their feud has characterised the early years of Edison’s son’s presidency. The new President is seen as if he is undoing most of your son’s legacy just to settle scores. It has gone to a point where many people have openly asked the two statesmen to ‘grow up’ and leave their personal breakup and build the country as they promised before 2018. But they are refusing to mend their differences. They are even holding parallel events commemorating your 100-year birthday.
Nonetheless, their conflict also shows that Botswana is still a very peace-loving country. We still jaw-jaw than war-war as you asked us to do. We do not have any tribal conflict and despite coming from different tribal backgrounds, Batswana are still finding a working balance to exist together as one nation. This is something that many African states have not managed to achieve. We, therefore, thank you and your selfless crop of founding fathers and mothers to envision and build Botswana.
Akalo Phuti.