Dark Clouds - Ian's Authoritarianism
Now for our penultimate dark cloud, the apparently increasing authoritarianism of Ian Khama’s government. This rings alarm bells for those of us who have been observing Africa over the decades.
Ian Khama is famously ascetic, he doesn’t drink or smoke, he exercises intensively, and he has never married. None of these, of course, are in any way at all negatives. But he has also been described as “testy, arrogant, and given to speaking out of turn”.
While these are potentially rather minor negative character traits, it depends what they indicate about the inner and deeper workings of Ian's mind. For example, his tendency to speak out of turn, especially in a country in which the treatment of women and girls is substantially inequitable, is well demonstrated by his response to queries about his unmarried state.
In the same article as the above quote it's noted that: “At a political party meeting, Khama said his top requirement for a future wife is that she needs to be tall, slim and beautiful; this … in a country known for short, heavy set women.
"He wasn’t done. To drive the point home he pointed to the Assistant Minister of Local Government Botlogile Tshireletso (in this photo Botlogile Tshireletso is on the right) and said, “I don’t want one like this one. She may fail to pass through the door, breaking furniture with her heavy weight and even break the vehicle’s shock absorbers.”’
One does not need to puzzle at all over what Mma Ramotswe would wonder at that. And further, at what she would wonder at her beloved Sir Seretse Khama fathering such a man as Ian Khama.
Authoritarian Ian has been in conflict with a number of elements within his party, causing a split and the creation of a new opposition party. He suspended his party secretary in the belief that he (the secretary) was undermining him.
Further, he had his security forces (security forces, for goodness sake) arrest a newspaper editor for sedition because he published an article claiming Ian used his position to hide the fact of a car accident. Sedition! As if libel wouldn't be more appropriate, presuming of course Ian's claim the article is full of lies is true. But perhaps Ian feared the courts might decide against him, and wash his dirty linen in public.
The journalist who wrote the article has fled to South Africa asking for asylum, saying he has been warned his life is in danger. Of course, he could be overstating the situation, except for the fact Ian's security forces and police have been implicated in several deaths. And the facts of these cases certainly indicate a problem worthy of a degree of investigation it won't get.
It should be noted that Ian Khama claims the article is all lies. Oddly, having read the article (http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=20913&GroupID=1, it was still up on 17/12/2014), we can only say that without knowing more it all appears to be much ado about nothing.
This makes one seriously wonder why Ian has reacted by having the editor charged with sedition, of all things. He says it’s because he’s sick of editors printing lies, but that still makes one wonder at the charge of sedition and the use of security officials. Especially when there is specific legislation to enable him to seek prosecution on the basis of lies being told, or for him to take private action to sue in the case of lies being told.
Ian’s brother, Tshekedi, has also gone into politics. After the 2014 elections, Ian wanted to make him his vice-president, with a view to the fact that under the constitution Ian can only retain his position until 2018. Such a move required a parliamentary vote. Ian tried to have the vote changed to a hands vote (where he could see who voted against) rather than a secret vote.
Fortunately, he didn’t succeed. The matter went from Botswana’s High Court to its Court of Appeal, which stated that the secret vote is constitutional. Further, Tshekedi is still not his vice-president, even though Ian’s party controls the parliament, which raises questions about Ian’s actual control of his party.
The public is clearly concerned about Ian, and considering the vote for vice-president it looks as though Ian’s party is as well. His party might have won the 2014 election, but apparently managed to do so on less than 50% of the vote, which raises questions about the fair distribution of electorates.
This low vote has not stopped Ian, however. He has banned government advertising from all papers except two which support the government, and from a radio station which is not supportive of the government.
We can only hope that the democratic structures that have been so strong there for so long manage to forestall any possibility of Botswana’s government going astray.
Nonetheless, Ian appears to be blowing apart his father's party, which has ensured good government since independence, and it is unclear quite what the alternative parties have to offer.
Further, Ian’s use of security officials and military and civilian police against opponents (not to mention against the Bushmen) is quite worrying.
We would not claim that Botswana is on the path to perdition, but it is certainly wandering around in the neighbourhood of the path’s starting point. Only Botswana can save itself, and the collapse of Ian’s electoral support and the bravery of the courts are good signs.
We can only hope, but the crunch time is 2018 and later, when Ian has to surrender power to a new president who may very well not be to the liking of him, his business mates, the miners, and other developers and businesspeople, the Chinese, or his mates in the military.
And it is that latter group which could be quite concerning, as Ian is extremely popular in military circles.
Ian Khama is famously ascetic, he doesn’t drink or smoke, he exercises intensively, and he has never married. None of these, of course, are in any way at all negatives. But he has also been described as “testy, arrogant, and given to speaking out of turn”.
While these are potentially rather minor negative character traits, it depends what they indicate about the inner and deeper workings of Ian's mind. For example, his tendency to speak out of turn, especially in a country in which the treatment of women and girls is substantially inequitable, is well demonstrated by his response to queries about his unmarried state.
In the same article as the above quote it's noted that: “At a political party meeting, Khama said his top requirement for a future wife is that she needs to be tall, slim and beautiful; this … in a country known for short, heavy set women.
"He wasn’t done. To drive the point home he pointed to the Assistant Minister of Local Government Botlogile Tshireletso (in this photo Botlogile Tshireletso is on the right) and said, “I don’t want one like this one. She may fail to pass through the door, breaking furniture with her heavy weight and even break the vehicle’s shock absorbers.”’
One does not need to puzzle at all over what Mma Ramotswe would wonder at that. And further, at what she would wonder at her beloved Sir Seretse Khama fathering such a man as Ian Khama.
Authoritarian Ian has been in conflict with a number of elements within his party, causing a split and the creation of a new opposition party. He suspended his party secretary in the belief that he (the secretary) was undermining him.
Further, he had his security forces (security forces, for goodness sake) arrest a newspaper editor for sedition because he published an article claiming Ian used his position to hide the fact of a car accident. Sedition! As if libel wouldn't be more appropriate, presuming of course Ian's claim the article is full of lies is true. But perhaps Ian feared the courts might decide against him, and wash his dirty linen in public.
The journalist who wrote the article has fled to South Africa asking for asylum, saying he has been warned his life is in danger. Of course, he could be overstating the situation, except for the fact Ian's security forces and police have been implicated in several deaths. And the facts of these cases certainly indicate a problem worthy of a degree of investigation it won't get.
It should be noted that Ian Khama claims the article is all lies. Oddly, having read the article (http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=20913&GroupID=1, it was still up on 17/12/2014), we can only say that without knowing more it all appears to be much ado about nothing.
This makes one seriously wonder why Ian has reacted by having the editor charged with sedition, of all things. He says it’s because he’s sick of editors printing lies, but that still makes one wonder at the charge of sedition and the use of security officials. Especially when there is specific legislation to enable him to seek prosecution on the basis of lies being told, or for him to take private action to sue in the case of lies being told.
Ian’s brother, Tshekedi, has also gone into politics. After the 2014 elections, Ian wanted to make him his vice-president, with a view to the fact that under the constitution Ian can only retain his position until 2018. Such a move required a parliamentary vote. Ian tried to have the vote changed to a hands vote (where he could see who voted against) rather than a secret vote.
Fortunately, he didn’t succeed. The matter went from Botswana’s High Court to its Court of Appeal, which stated that the secret vote is constitutional. Further, Tshekedi is still not his vice-president, even though Ian’s party controls the parliament, which raises questions about Ian’s actual control of his party.
The public is clearly concerned about Ian, and considering the vote for vice-president it looks as though Ian’s party is as well. His party might have won the 2014 election, but apparently managed to do so on less than 50% of the vote, which raises questions about the fair distribution of electorates.
This low vote has not stopped Ian, however. He has banned government advertising from all papers except two which support the government, and from a radio station which is not supportive of the government.
We can only hope that the democratic structures that have been so strong there for so long manage to forestall any possibility of Botswana’s government going astray.
Nonetheless, Ian appears to be blowing apart his father's party, which has ensured good government since independence, and it is unclear quite what the alternative parties have to offer.
Further, Ian’s use of security officials and military and civilian police against opponents (not to mention against the Bushmen) is quite worrying.
We would not claim that Botswana is on the path to perdition, but it is certainly wandering around in the neighbourhood of the path’s starting point. Only Botswana can save itself, and the collapse of Ian’s electoral support and the bravery of the courts are good signs.
We can only hope, but the crunch time is 2018 and later, when Ian has to surrender power to a new president who may very well not be to the liking of him, his business mates, the miners, and other developers and businesspeople, the Chinese, or his mates in the military.
And it is that latter group which could be quite concerning, as Ian is extremely popular in military circles.
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