Palace coup spy thriller

Newspaper reports from both Zimbabwe and Botswana relate that Zimbabwe intelligence intercepted a plot to oust Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi earlier this month.

It was said to involve buying votes at a party congress of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) a week or two ago.

Delegates were apparently to be paid to vote for Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, handpicked by former President Ian Khama. As party leader, Venson-Moitoi would then assume the Presidency. A palace coup.

The conspiracy reads like a Hollywood spy thriller.

The setting is the popular resort of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, where the money to buy the votes was to change hands.

That is also where Zimbabwe intelligence pounced, detaining some of the alleged conspirators from South Africa, including a courier reported to be Bridgette Motsepe Radebe.

The Botswana Sunday Standard and the Zimbabwe Herald identify the key roleplayers as Ian Khama, Andrew Young, who is a former US ambassador to the UN, Bridgette Motsepe, sister of a billionaire from South Africa, some financial institutions and of course Venson-Moitoi.

Because some aspects of the conspiracy were allegedly conducted in South Africa, the Hawks should open an investigation and the NPA should prosecute any found to be involved, irrespective of their political backgrounds.

Both Ian Khama and Bridgette Radebe deny the allegations. The newspaper reports raise intriguing political questions. Was the continuous 50-year rule of the Khama family in Botswana really a period of democracy, or was it a silent dictatorship held together by elaborate schemes of electoral fraud and corruption?

This is significant, because one of the functions of the SADC is to entrench democracy in the region.

It does that through, among other things, observer missions at election time to ensure that elections reflect the will of the people. We can only do that if our own hands are clean.

Khama’s alleged conduct, if found to be true, means we would have to revise his legacy as an honest broker in his observer status in the Zimbabwe elections, where he was often the odd man out.

His alleged willingness to work with foreigners to rig elections at home would make him susceptible to serving the interests of others, indicating a character far from patriotic and motives far from commitment to democracy.

The perception that the 50-year rule of the Khama family in Botswana was rooted in love of the Khamas is now in question.

If your people love you so much why would you have to bribe them for votes?

– Wongaletu Vanda, via e-mail