Masisi's Utterances Harmless – BDP
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday November 2, 2021 06:00
But his party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) feels the President is unfairly persecuted as he said nothing wrong. BDP communications sub-committee chairperson, Kagelelo Kentse slammed the media for misleading the nation.
Addressing a Kgotla meeting in Mmadinare, Masisi was captured on video saying that Botswana youth had gathered at a certain place in Gaborone partying and drinking alcohol as they love it more than anyone else.
He was referring to a show by Gilbert Promotions featuring a South African drawcard, Makhadzi. The next day in Selebi-Phikwe Masisi said: “Dilo tse ne re di bona ka mosetsanyana o teng ha, ditebego tsa gagwe ke a di bona o a tlola o a bina ga a nke a ema go bina. O ne a phuthile matshwititshwiti a batho mme go sa aparwa di mask. Go kuiwa. Le hoo, ke hano, le lebelele gore go tla bo go diragala eng mo dipalong tsa rona mo bekeng tse tharo tse di tlang. Mme ke ne ka ba bolelela jaaka le lona ke le bolelela. Ha go ka bo gatwe haka, mo teng. Ga re kake ra tlogela gore batho ba e leng gore ba somarela botshelo ja bone le ba bangwe ba tle go ganyaolwa fela ba itidimaletse.”
Masisi would then cause further discomfort when addressing residents of Bray condemning the practice where villagers would ask for donations from former president Ian Khama.
“Go bopega ga tlhaloganyo le maikutlo. A o bopegetse, botshwakga le bokopa le bokopi kante o bopegetse bonatla, bothaga le go batla go itirela le go ipelela go itirela. We need a mindset change. Re a tlamega re le lefatshe gore re fetole se gotlhelele. Le Setswana sa rona se ne se re etse. Go ne go setse go tsene ngwao mo dikgotleng tsa rona gore fa o tsena, tautona a tsena jaana, e bo e le gore le mogolo tota wa maloba a bo a ipetola. Faa tsena tsena mo kgotleng o a tsitla a re ijoo ‘Tautona ke kopa terata ijoo’. Botlhodi, Kgotla ga go diriwe jalo mo teng. Ga se setho, gase Setswana. Go nale ko go itelwang teng ka setho le ka Setswana. E seng go ema hale a bo a ruta ngwana gore ya ha mic’ng o bokolle.”
Despite the public outcry, Kentse believes the complaints are an unjustified witch-hunt.
“I have listened to the two clips and went beyond just the short circulating clips and I can tell you that the President meant no harm. It is just unfortunate that the media, especially the mushrooming online publications tend to push their own agenda and misrepresent him. In the Makhadzi instance, the President was speaking Sengwaketsi only stating that Makhadzi is beautiful and people took it out of context,” he said.
Where the President was accused of being insensitive in condemning the dependency syndrome, Kentse said the President was attacked unfairly.
“There is nothing wrong with what the President said. The outrage is based on a short clip, indeed the President had spoken at length condemning the culture where people did not want to work but depend on presidential handouts. The media always does that lately, ignoring important messages delivered by the President. We need to address this as it has potential to harm our democracy,” he said.