Khan: I am a Muslim

Mmegi: Are you married?
Khan: Yes, with four children-two boys and two girls.

Mmegi: What are your hobbies?

Khan: I love playing tennis and also used to play football. But still whenever I get the opportunity, I play it. I also shoot pool. I also love watching documentaries mostly political. I listen to various music genres but I prefer Jazz and Pop music.

Mmegi: Do you always dress to make a statement about your political convictions?

Khan: Not really. I am a casual dresser who likes ensuring my clothes match up.

Mmegi: Is it true that you are one of the longest serving central committee members of the BNF?

Khan: I started in July 1997 and I am stepping down in 2010 July.

Mmegi: Take us back in time to 1997 and tell us what role you played in the BNF central committee then?

Khan: I was the treasurer.

Mmegi: Oh really? Just like your Muslim brother Satar Dada in the BDP. Does that mean that Muslims are good at handling money?

Khan: It's just a myth that people of Asian extract are good with money and fundraising. It's even interesting that my brother Sarfaraz Khan later succeeded me in the party treasurer's position.

Mmegi: Why did you leave that position?

Khan: I felt I could serve the party well in a different capacity.

Mmegi: That being?

Khan: I joined politics because I was politically motivated. I was not driven by selfish reasons. I was and am a revolutionary politician.

Mmegi: Of all the parties what made you gravitate towards the BNF?

Khan: They had the best social democracy policies to uplift the living standards of Batswana.

Mmegi: Have you ever experienced racial prejudice at a personal level?

Khan: I was a young businessman in my 20s and my business meant I had to constantly cross the border down south on business trips. On many occasions I clashed with South African immigration officials who wanted me to fill in the forms stating that I am an Indian. I said no, I am a Motswana.

Mmegi: There is a story I overheard that you also had to leave a cinema in South Africa because of the colour of your skin. Is it true?

Khan: Yeah. It was in the late 1980s and had gone to watch a certain movie in Johannesburg. I had used my Botswana passport to buy the ticket, but during the viewing of the movie some people alerted the manager that here was a non-white person in a whites only cinema. He came to me and told me 'sir, non-whites are not permitted in this cinema'. I silently produced my passport and he apologised and asked me to enjoy the movie. How could I enjoy it when he had humiliated me like that? I left the place in shame.

Mmegi:  So you have had your fair share of racism in apartheid South Africa?

Khan: Actually there were a lot of incidences. I was one time PI'd (made Prohibited Immigrant) by that apartheid regime. They accused me of being a political activist who was collaborating with ANC insurgents, but in truth I was just a businessman.
Mmegi: You want to tell me you were not involved with the ANC then?

Khan: Afterwards I got involved. I would help ANC activists cross the border at Haldavale in Borolong area and drop them with my Leyland truck. From there they were transported to their Umkhonto We Sizwe base in Tanzania.

Mmegi: At the time which revolutionary inspired you then?

Khan: My political mentor was Steve Biko. I read everything that was written about him. I liked his philosophy and Malcom X's politics. They all shaped my approach to politics.

Mmegi: You were in your late 20s. Your parents must have been concerned about your radical political convictions?

Khan: My father Gulam Ali Khan, who is now late, was a BDP councilor. He was in the crop of the then new first Kweneng District Council councilors. That was in the 1960s.

Mmegi: So did he attempt to dissuade you from joining the BNF?

Khan: Not really. He pushed me into politics especially that I used to complain about the way the country was being run. My father would tell me "why don't you do something about it instead of just being an armchair critic."

Mmegi: And then you joined the BDP?

Khan: Yeah, for a short time though. In August 1994 I joined the BNF.

Mmegi: Why did you cross over to the BNF?

Khan: Lemogang Ntime, who is my brother-in-law had given me some BNF literature like Pamphlet Number 1, Education in Black Africa, The chieftainship in crisis all by Kenneth Koma. From reading them I developed an interest in the BNF because it struck a chord in me as it was in line with my political convictions. I was for improving the lives of Batswana. BNF was more revolutionary than the passive BDP.

Mmegi: What made you think you had to save people? Is it the usual rhetoric that politicians adopt?

Khan: It was honest. I realised that the government concentrated on encouraging foreigners to invest in Botswana through Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) instead of giving it to Batswana, whom I thought were capable of playing a role in the economic development of this country.

Mmegi: Which business were you engaged in then?

Khan: I was in supermarket and general dealerships. Now I have moved to manufacturing bricks and pavers (blocks for pavement).

Mmegi: Besides citizen economic empowerment what else was your concern back then about the government of the day?
Khan: In Molepolole lightning was killing people and livestock. I knew putting lightning conductors around the village could stop it, but government gave me a deaf ear. The image of an old lady and a child dying in a burning roundovel hit by lightning as we watched helplessly from my uncle's shop is still etched in my mind. What kind of government watches things like that happening and does nothing about them?

Mmegi: What did you do as BNF treasurer?

Khan: I didn't do much because when I took over in 1997, factionalism in the party was at its peak. The move by some central committee members to remove Kenneth Koma from the party took centre stage and therefore the normal central committee positions were disregarded as we spent time trying to defuse the time bomb, but it exploded in Palapye.

Mmegi: The BNF has been rocked by internal strife for decades, running to the 80s. What in your view, is wrong with the BNF?
Khan: It has been an unstable BNF. I never got rest in the BNF. It was gripped in continuous infighting. From 1994 to now there was never three years of peace. It was one fire to another. It was quite taxing emotionally. I joined the BNF believing I was joining a group of people with a common agenda to change the regime in order for us to serve the people. But I realised there were few people within the central committee who were committed to the cause. Most of them were selfish and opportunists who only sought and fought for leadership positions.

Mmegi: Some people credit Koma for building and later running down the front that is the BNF. What is your personal view of this political maestro?

Khan: KK's writings and preachings were fantastic and fascinating. When the man spoke you would want to listen and hear what he had to say. Yes, in political philosophy he was good but practicing what he preached was problematic. He was weak there.

Mmegi: Then there is his successor Moupo, who is blamed for literally bringing the party to the brink of collapse. As his advisor and fellow politburo member do you think these are fair descriptions of a man who came into the political scene as one imbibed in deep leftist politics?

Khan: Moupo's greatest asset is his ability to express the ideology of the BNF and his greatest weaknesses are quite manifold. First he is gullible; he easily trusts people so much that he will tell you something in confidence not realising that in politics relationships are not permanent. Your foes and friends alike can change roles easily and quickly. Some people would use what you told them in confidence and use it to bring about your downfall. The other challenge that he had was his failure to take care of personal issues and family ones as a politician. That was his downfall.

Mmegi: So you subscribe to the notion that in politics perceptions matter more than reality?

Khan: Exactly my point. Now politics is not about deep political thought or articulating the thoughts quite well. It's about charisma and discussing bread and butter issues.

Mmegi: As secretary general what role did you play in the furore that led to some BNF members being expelled in the run-up to the general elections?

Khan: The performance of the central committee over the years has not been good. It failed in many areas to bring about the desired peace and stability to perform better at the general elections.

Mmegi: What do you think should have been done to address the matter amicably?

Khan: Dialogue between the concerned parties. We didn't do much instead we preferred to use the constitution and the code of discipline. Sometimes in politics matters can be solved outside the normal procedures.

Mmegi: Do you agree with vice-president Olebile Gaborone's assertion that he bowed out of the presidential race to avert violence at the congress?

Khan: When we went to Molepolole congress he knew there would be internal strife yet he went on to stand for the VP post. He is not justifying himself well. I believe he has realised that a number of people in the central committee and people in constituencies are supporting Boko's candidacy. I think he feels betrayed by his comrade-in-arms in the central committee. He is being diplomatic. I think he could have contributed in a different capacity or just as a VP.

Mmegi: Besides you, who is supporting Boko?

Khan: I can't expose others. I support him because at this time the presidency of the BNF requires someone like Boko. We need a clean radical, young progressive and Boko is that person. He is untainted in BNF inner-party fighting and therefore placed to unite the party.

Mmegi: Do you also agree with the notion that there is a powerful hand sponsoring youth activist Thuso Mogorosi's case against the Boko candidacy?

Khan: In politics key leaders don't soil their hands. They send others to do their dirty work. I assume that's what's happening in the Boko case.

Mmegi: Your nephew, Arafat has been called a loose canon by Gaborone. Is that what you also see in him?

Khan: I would describe him as a radical, revolutionary politician. Radical because of his youth and revolutionary because of his commitment to the BNF. So Gaborone's accusations are unfounded. Arafat reminds me of myself. When I was a youth I was aggressive in my statements and that's what Arafat is doing.

Mmegi: The issue of Boko's membership guide has exposed the BNF especially you as head of the secretariat for failing to manage the movement's records prudently. What is your defence?

Khan: We had a problem with our computer system. The system we used was problematic. But we updated it and later got a UB lecturer to design a program to cater for membership processing.

Mmegi: What did you achieve as a secretary general?

Khan: I came at a time when there was too much strife hence I couldn't perform to my abilities. I had secretaries for political education, international affairs and others but whenever I gave them assignments they sat on them. They would only be galvanised into action when there was internal bickering. So I have not achieved my set goals and I am disgruntled.

Mmegi: So where to from here?

Khan: I will be preparing for the 2014 elections for Molepolole North. I will also assist the party to move forward. I am also willing to serve the party in efforts towards opposition cooperation.

Mmegi: Why are you leaving the party leadership?

Khan: Because of my financial situation. I have lost a lot of money in the past 15 years to politics and this has affected my family's living standards. I had to choose whether to continue politics in poverty or re-establish myself in business.

Mmegi: so what is your advice to politicians?

Khan: If you want to serve the nation genuinely you should first ensure that you have sufficient resources to cater for your monthly expenditures before you commit to politics. In this congress or the next one, I intend to present a motion to have a secretary general who doesn't stand for elections but rather works fulltime for the party as a fully paid chief executive officer.