Known for holding peaceful elections since 1966, Botswana has been rocked by insults and counter insults across the political divide as campaigning intensifies ahead of polls set for October.
So serious is the situation that Vice President Slumber Tsogwane has sought to intervene and bring sanity to what could potentially result in political instability.
Tsogwane on Monday took to social media to express his views about the situation.
“It has come to our attention that there is a lot of insults in our rallies and politics. Almost all parties involved in this election have people insulting others,” Tsogwane wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Tsogwane, more disturbing is that “we have children and elders being insulted.”
“Some of these people cannot even speak for themselves. As an elder and leader in our society, I plead with all our activists across parties to refrain from this type of politics,” the vice president said.
He said Botswana was at a crossroads and called on Batswana to look “for a way forward” for the country instead of trading insults.
“The insults do not add value to the lives of our people. Let us be respectful to each other and debate the best way to move Botswana forward,” Tsogwane noted.
Recently, the leader of minority in parliament, Ndaba Gaolathe called for what he called a new Botswana, “a Botswana in which none of us insults each other no matter how violated we maybe feel.”
“That is the Botswana some of us cherish, that some of us feel we belong too,” said Gaolathe, who is leader of the Alliance for Progressives (AP).
He added: “This is the Botswana that AP advocates for…..not the one where others are called insects, others are called all sorts of names. A Botswana that all of us share the resources equally, and that all, rich or poor, black or white, educated or not have equal rights.”
Ruling Botswana Democratic Party Women League chairperson and Minister of Transport and Communications, Dorcas Makgato, recently alleged that the founding father of the party and the country’s first president Sir Seretse Khama died of an alcohol-related illness.
Makgato declined to comment on the issue.
However, newly formed Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), whose patron is former president Ian Khama, rubbished Makgato’s claims.
“This trash-talking of Sir Seretse Khama is an insult to him and his generation. And it begs the question – Is this how Dorcas would address her own father and would she be happy for someone else to be this disrespectful to her parents?”
The BPF added: “Seeing that Dorcas has a major weakness for alcohol; the good, the bad and the ugly that in her case oft come with it, we at first thought to ignore her nonsensical tavern talk but decided such may give her an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Instead of picking on our late leaders, Makgato should focus on citizenship issues currently affecting our people.”
As if that is not enough, the mayor of the capital Gaborone and opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) councillor Kagiso Thutwe joined the fray.
Speaking at a UDC rally in Gaborone at the weekend, Thutwe accused President Mokgweetsi Masisi of being a conman.
He alleged that the president had brought the country into trouble by adjusting salaries for security forces and other civil servants.
“We will respond to every insult from the ruling party cadres. Leaders of opposition should leave that to us foot soldiers,” said Thutwe.
Commenting on the issue, political analyst Lawrence Ookeditse said the insults will have far-reaching effects on Botswana.
“When these insults started I knew there’d be no end. And that soon something really hurtful would be said,” Ookeditse said.
“We all, as a collective and as a people, failed to call our cadres and comrades to order. Now it’s getting out of hand. And you can’t point a finger to any particular person. Let’s all call our comrades to order. Tell everybody to speak to politics that change the price of bread,” he said.
KO/jn/APA