Today, I talk about the Basarwa case because what we, as Batswana, unwittingly permit to be done to Basarwa will be done to the rest of us, in our own turn. Twenty years ago, before it had become fashionable to talk of Basarwa as people, who might have their own dreams, or as people having any kind of rights in Setswana society, I tried to alert Batswana of the danger of keeping sections of our population as slaves working under very trying conditions without pay and, or, any rights. I went to Xade, in the heart of the reserve, came back and reported on conditions of extreme poverty that I had witnessed. But I also reported on the resilience of the people who, quite often, mastered in heart-rending song the pathetic situation that was their life.

Then, as now, I also asked questions about the general living conditions of the Basarwa, who, either by force, conqest or out of their own volition, came to live in the periphery. (Batswana used to conduct slave-raiding parties during which they scattered communities of Basarwa and, in the mayhem, captured children to go and serve as cattle herders.) I talked of their generalised deprivation and boredom with life with the result that they turned to alcoholism. But, then, there was something I did not express.

The sense of ownership of a place. The last form of proprietorship that Basarwa could still feel. Even then, there was every proof that Basarwa life was uncomfortable. They hunted small game, but under license, while directors of Debswana, the likes of Lious Nchindo, Mike Wittet, Basimanyana Masire (in other words the cream of the cream of Botswana society) and their South African friends of the apartheid era, were hunting the same game with some of the most sophisticated weaponry.

I am not suggesting that the said gentlemen were committing any crime. They had licenses to hunt trophies. The point I am making is simply to compare the kinds of killing technology that was available to the two kinds of hunters. There was also the second aspect to the mobility of the hunters. Basarwa ensnared small game and rodents; they hunted on foot or donkey back but not in the well powered vehicles the trophy hunters were using. This means that, even in an open contest of marksmanship, Basarwa were on the receiving end. Normally, when the government of Botswana runs out of arguments, they claim that Basarwa are treated like all citizens. I want to tell the world, and whoever is listening, that that is a lie. Basarwa occupy the lowest rung of society in our class-divided economic set up.

I argued then, as I do today, that there would be need for positive discrimination in favour of Basarwa.

I said, in areas where Basarwa have been held as a cartel, looking after their owners' cattle, there will be need for reparations. I know all this is anathema to my Bangwato countrymen, even those in Parliament, who keep Basarwa as slaves. Everybody in this country is implicated by our collective silence over the years and the reluctance to talk about the slavery that takes place in our midst. Are we waiting for investigations by external bodies?

Or are we pushing Basarwa so that, in the end, they will wage a war of liberation against us - their perceived colonisers? Well, unpleasant thoughts there, for sure, but these are issues we can no longer wish away. That is why we are so piqued by the interventions of Survival International. Do we not know now what persistent negative international perceptions against our country can do? Do we not see where Zimbabwe has gone, even in spite of the productivity that characterises that country? Denying these facts, calling commentators names, insulting Steven Corry, or deporting Kenneth Good, will not alter the fact that this country practices slavery. Our challenge is how we can get out of this practice and join the world community of freethinking people, who can be critical even of themselves.

The belligerence of our president and the dog-headedness of his foreign minister, who appears to think he can baffle the whole world with his military general's title, are but laughable antics.

If De Beers and the Botswana government want to come out good, they must take bold steps to redress the plight of the Basarwa, sooner rather than later. One way would be to pay royalties for mineral rights, where the two are mining in Basarwa occupied areas, in places such as Orapa, Zua (Letlhakane) and, in future, Gope. The two conglomerates must pay royalties to the Basarwa.

Talk that our diamonds are for development simply does not wash. All evidence point to the fact that Basarwa have not been made part of the development we shout about. The leadership of this country points to the token infrastructure around urban areas as evidence of development yet that infrastructure is completely lacking even in places where De Beers and the Botswana government are mining diamonds. So, call the bluff and let's something practical, otherwise, we are burdening the future generation with a situation they will not be able to solve. If the diamonds are there for the public good, if these diamonds are not blood diamonds (presumably because Basarwa have not yet armed themselves to resist this government), why don't we use some of the largess accrued from mineral extraction to develop Basarwa and make them part of the official economy. Why don't we do what the South Africans and the Namibians are doing with their specially disadvantaged groups? I know we are too eager to copy South African jive and football rather than fundamental things.

We should not belittle our courts of law by allowing the same old notions of traditional law that 'ga ke kake ka sekisiwa ke Mosarwa' (A Mosarwa can't take me to court) or "Mosarwa ga a na bonno mo kgotleng ya kgosi ya morafe' (A Mosarwa has no place in the kgotla) to continue into the 21st century. But this calls for visionary leadership.

If, as it is purported, Ian Khama is 'Mr Fix All', then here is his real first challenge that might elevate him to the stature of his historic predecessors and the great kings in the annals of history, who made a name for themselves by liberating their oppressed people.

Will Khama be our version of Alexander the Great, who freed slaves and serfs from the grip of archaic production systems?