BNF woes

One only hopes that common sense can still prevail among Botswana National Front (BNF) “activists”. You see, BNF president Duma Boko was right not to want to contest for Parliamentary Elections. His argument was very sound – he wanted to concentrate on growing the BNF. He wanted to shape BNF National election strategy and channel his energies into making the BNF a household name again, like it was during the time of KK. As President of the BNF, Boko is the man to do that. But he cannot accomplish such a demanding task if his attention is divided between party leadership and Parliamentary candidate.

The arguments used to “persuade” Boko to abandon his stance were not convincing at all. But he had to yield, partly because of the never easing threat from “activists” to destroy the BNF. It was claimed that if BMD president Gomolemo Motswaledi won the Gaborone Central seat, then he would most likely be the leader of opposition (LOO) in Parliament, and would thus tend to eclipse Duma Boko who would not be in Parliament. This argument flies in the face of common sense. So what if Motswaledi was LOO? After all, unless a party is in power, Parliamentarians constitute a miniscule proportion of any opposition party. Correspondingly, people (the Party) attach a miniscule credibility to what the Parliamentarians say, especially if such Parliamentarians are the kind that hops from one party to another like grass hoppers invading a field of lush green crops.

THE PARTY is supposed to be out there among the people, in Manxothai, Xanaxas, Groote Lagte etc. In these places, Duma Boko would have had the time to be seen, to be heard, to listen to the people and learn what constitute peoples’ greatest needs and concerns. In other words, the BNF would have had a face among the people.

You see, there is something quite elegant about the way the British conduct their party political life. The party gives its leader full support while he/she is still leader. This ensures that the leader’s ideas are given full leeway to be implemented without internal party bickering and all sorts of hindrance. If the party loses elections the leader does not have to be reminded that it’s time to quit. He/she announces his/her resignation even before the official announcement of loss is made. The leader resigns, not because he did anything “wrong”, but because his best was not good enough. It is immaterial whether the elections were rigged or not, it happened under the leader’s watch; therefore the leader must go. He/she must pass the baton to others whose ideas were put on hold while his/hers ruled the roost. But you cannot demand such stringent adherence to political principle where the leader’s ideas were constantly rebutted by “party activists” and where the leader was wholly immersed in a constituency political campaign, at the expense of the party’s national footprint.

The BNF should avoid a situation similar to a certain political party in Zimbabwe where the leader was forced by circumstances beyond his control to declare his party ready for the elections, against the best advice of regional bodies, only to run around like a headless chicken when the party was booted out of government at the elections. Had the leader been under no pressure to declare his party ready for elections, he would most probably have gracefully bowed out after the electoral “loss” and not sought to prolong his leadership by cursing the very people whose advice he had been forced to ignore.

Bakwena cultural celebrations

This week’s “The Telegraph” newspaper carries a report about a forthcoming celebration of Bakwena culture in Molepolole. This should be a memorable occasion indeed. There is something though, that Bakwena hide from public acknowledgment – a hill on the North side of Molepolole, called “Lekgabanyana laga Ra-Kolanyane”.

If you come across a Mokwena in good spirits, he will tell you that it is from that hill that Bakwena obtain their Kings and get lightning to strike others with [Tladi le dikgosi ba di tsaya teng koo]. It is also alleged that items found on that hill, such as old clay pot pieces, ARE alive. So as a skeptic who does not believe in voodoo and stuff, I decided to visit the site.

The best description I can give for what I experienced is that the hill logged into me, just the way you log into a computer and issue instructions for it to do this and that. I agree with you 100% if you say what I am writing is absolute rubbish; that is why I went there in the first place – to confirm that claims that the hill has supernatural powers are total rubbish. So go climb the hill and enjoy!

Thaakaa!

The other day I went past an English Medium school. The kids were playing in the grounds. It was all “thwithwi-n-thwi”. I called one little boy (a Mongwato, I suspect) over and asked him why he was speaking to his friends in English, and not in Setswana. He replied that Setswana is a MINORITY language, and therefore they are not allowed to speak it. I walked away.

Later I began to digest what the little Mongwato boy had said. Surely he must have been told by someone that Setswana is a minority language. But is it? I wondered. Well, given that the boy’s scope of discourse was the school environment, he was as right as those who say that Ikalanga language is a minority language in Botswana.

Just like the English Medium School, an artificial environment called Botswana was created, from which Ikalanga language was forcibly expunged from public discourse by Presidential proclamations. After several years of its being in the doldrums, Ikalanga language was then declared a MINORITY language. It remains so to this day; thaakaa!

And speaking of “thaakaa” it may surprise some to know that this is a Kalanga word which was carried over into Sengwato. As Professor Otlogetswe pointed out in the Telegraph newspaper of July 10th 2013, the (Ngwato) word expresses surprise. Well, I believe that its original meaning was more than just an expression of surprise; it was an expression that spelt imminent danger when uttered by the Illui. When you eat thopi (porridge cooked using melon stew) and find a melon seed in the porridge, that seed is called “thaka” in IKalanga language. Now, imagine that you were charged with making a melon stew for the Illui, to supplement their diet of milk (or sh!t). Such a stew would have to be completely free of seeds. If they found a seed in there, they would of course exclaim ”thaakaa!”, and that basically meant that YOU were as good as dead!

3 chiefs monument - solution!

I have never heard a Mongwato, a Mokwena or a Mongwaketse use the phrase “go tswa goo-Lowe”, meaning “ever since Lowe”. The reason is simple – they never lived at “Lowe” (Mapungubwe). The Kalanga name for “Lowe” of course is “Liwa/Luwe/Luo”.

Instead, they most probably originate from Khami, near Bulawayo. Khami is a corruption of its  Kalanga name – Nkami; meaning “the milker”.

It makes sense therefore that a swap be made between Botswana and Zimbabwe - the monument of their three chiefs in Gaborone’s Central Business District (CBD) gets re-Christened “Bulawayo”; while the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo reverts to its original name of "Khama" "Nkami".

Public Accounts Committee of Parliament

HoHoHo-HaHaHa!!!!LOLLLLLL. And so the “second best-performing Ministry” can’t even explain their accounting book discrepancies to the Public Accounts Committee! Lord have mercy on our land.

DIS boss and "lazy Government Officials"

The article entitled “DIS boss slams Government Officials” in the most recent Weekend Post newspaper makes for very sad reading. It makes me wonder why Mr. Kgosi does not escalate these problems he encounters, of uncooperative Government Officials to his job supervisor – or does he not have one?

It reminds me of the advice of a Chinese Government representative to a Botswana Government official, concerning the lack of competency of a Chinese Government-owned company to carry out a “mega” project in Palapye; which advice was also ignored, and which project has also disastrously failed.

According to the newspaper report, Mr. Kgosi’s Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS) has now adopted a “wait and see approach” as mega projects hurtle towards otherwise avoidable catastrophes. I don’t blame Mr. Kgosi’s DIS for this; anyone in similar circumstances would probably do likewise.

But surely there is someone to blame, and surely President Khama has the power to get rid of that someone. Question is – is he capable of identifying the culprit? If not, will his victory in 2014 elections make any difference?

Voter numbers or Voter names?

If you are wondering why I relentlessly pursue the matter of general elections, the reason is simple – it is the only time that I am given a say in how I want the country run. After the general elections, political parties and “civic” organisations meet at the GICC to do a “post-mortem”. We, ordinary citizens are never invited to these gatherings. Therefore to me the general elections are the beginning and the end of my democratic participation. As such, I need to be convinced that the result of the general elections IS A TRUE REFLECTION OF THE VOICE OF THE MAJORITY.

I fail to understand why, after dissolution of Parliament, Ministers then use taxpayer’s money to run the length and breadth of the country purportedly to tell us the citizens, about Government programmes.   Because Parliament stands dissolved, our input to these Ministerial and Presidential Kgotla gatherings cannot be acted upon; so why do we as taxpayers have to fund these gatherings? Indeed what other rationale is there for these gatherings other than political campaigning by the Ministers and/or President? It boils down to one phenomenon – abuse of office!

There have been two disturbing announcements by the government last (and this) year, in relation to next year’s general elections:

1. That computers would play a greater role than ever before in an election.
2. That election registration numbers would no longer be used but rather, that NAMES would be used instead.

Our population is a little over two million people.  In such a small population is there justification for widespread computer deployment during general elections? I would say yes; provided the computers, using the national registration database, are used solely to prevent an individual from VOTING MORE THAN ONCE.  I therefore accept the first of the above announcements, with the qualification just stated.
Given the first announcement, the second announcement presents a dilemma. A computer only understands numbers. Everything that we see a computer accomplish, be it our names, music or video or sound, is represented as a number in the brain of a computer.  The use of voter identification numbers in general elections therefore follows the natural process by which a computer works. My contention is that these numbers ought to be the same numbers that we are given at birth, and that remain our identification numbers until we die. We should not have to be “registered” again, specifically for elections. But numbered we must be.

Imagine the scenario of using only names and not numbers, as Vice President Kedikilwe announced. The election administrators would have a hard time determining if the voter Modise Molefe is the same as the voter Modisi Molefhi. But the numbers of these two people would be different, and no one would be faster at spotting that difference than a computer!

In conclusion, the use of computers at general elections is therefore essential, but so is the use of numbers in association with our names, a role for which our national ID numbers (Omang numbers) are ideal.