We acknowledge that led by Botswana Police Service (BPS), our country's law enforcement structures have made tremendous efforts to deal with the situation. The capture of several suspects in connection with many of the robberies points to this. While BPS, the Botswana Defence Force and the Directorate of Intelligence and especially Security often get the short end of the stick in our reviews of law enforcement structures and the security establishment in general, the collaboration of these organs has led to laudable results and deserves the salutation of Batswana. For that reason, the Commissioner of Police, the Commander of Botswana Defence Force and the head of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security merit exaltation. Nevertheless, we do think it was about time someone realised that escalation of crime simply means law enforcement falls far too short. The recent spate of armed robberies must point to serious deficiencies that call for an earnest and honest review of the way those charged with maintenance of law and order do things. As we say this, we must note also that manifestly deficient as they are, responses to armed robberies targeting businesses have largely been at the expense of ordinary people. It is so apparently because in the worldview of our law enforcement, big business equates to foreign investment and must therefore be protected at all costs, even if it means ignoring a call for help by a woman in the clutches of rapists in front of her young children inside her home. We can no longer hesitate to tell it like it is simply because it is ugly. This we must deal with before we self-righteously call on members of the public to play their part.Of course, a part we must all play, but it is the core responsibility of the police - and the army in peacetime - to protect the life and limb of everyone.
Lessons from Zim
The recent general elections in Zimbabwe, which were rigged by Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF, should be a lesson in how not to conduct election observer missions. From the beginning, the election drawn by the courts compromised the chances that the election could ever be free and fair. Very clearly, compilation of the voters' roll was where Mugabe and his cronies stole the election even before it started, illustrating that elections are much more than the casting of ballots at the polling station and that there is little point in observer missions arriving on polling day. The election having been stolen by Mugabe, we join the voices calling for an audit to tally the numbers and connect names to people and their ages, and a tribunal to punish the culprits. And by all means, SADC and the rest of the world have a duty to ensure there is no repeat of the violence of 2008.
