Masisi’s coat of many colours
Staff Writer | Monday January 22, 2024 05:28
Masisi has come out to be renowned for his political gimmick of saying one thing and turning around to deny ever having said it at all. While many have indicted him for having traits that hallmark a 'dishonest' President, the politically initiated deem this to be his way of animating the tricky game of politics.
The use of diction and slimy oratory has been used by the First Citizen as a pavilion of safety when the chickens come home to roost and he is exposed to the backlash of his past statements. In his infamous colour change, Masisi was caught on camera in 2013 calling himself a 'bootlicker'.
In the video, he bluntly admitted to being an adamant bootlicker to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and goes on to further explicitly call himself the son of a bootlicker. “Re teng malatswa thipa a lona, ake itse gore ha o sa e latswe o ikantse eng. Ke ngwana wa lelope, ke ngwana-a-ngwana wa lelope ke ja boswa,” he said at the time.
On a surprising turn of events, Masisi during a subsequent presidential debate washed his hands on ever claiming or admitting to be a bootlicker, a gimmick that spewed into a national debate sparking debates and questions into Masisi`s character and credence as the President.
Being a coat of many colours does not only represent the President's elusive use of words and language, it also represents his dodgy political character that is unpredictable. Following electoral victory in 2019, Masisi’s Cabinet was a circle of carefully chosen cronies who were to serve as loyalist field marshals duty bound to carry their ‘thus says Masisi’ to the polity. New Cabinet entrants like Dr. Thapelo Matsheka, who was entrusted with the national pursue, would under any administration be sure of a five-year ticket of undisturbed service.
Mainly because the Ministry of Finance has always been regarded as a sensitive ministry often awarded to the most skillful economic marshals. A fallout between Masisi and Matsheka would later break out leading to the demotion of the latter and the promotion of Peggy Serame to manage the national coffers. Serame's ascent followed through many years of playing second fiddle to Bogolo Kenewendo in the Ministry of Trade as the Permanent Secretary. The biggest trick up Masisi's sleeve is his turn around on his former boss president Khama.
On one fateful day the nation witnessed Khama introducing Masisi and his family to the nation, anointing him as his chosen successor at a Serowe Kgotla to the admiration of many who had gathered there unbeknown to them that this is the man whom under his stewardship will see their paramount chief on a self-imposed exile.
The duo appeared close and strong, Khama who had consolidated power within the BDP had plenty of choices on whom to anoint as his successor. Masisi’s elevation to the vice presidency in April 2018 was surely a surprising pick by Khama. The former school teacher emerged as the least objectionable compromise candidate between bickering factions within the BDP. However, the two have a complicated relationship. Masisi’s father, Sethomo Masisi, was one of Seretse Khama’s loyal ministers. Masisi was supposed to be a relatively safe pair of hands, but in African politics, successors rarely take orders from their predecessors. Khama would later turn to the nation and claim he made a damming mistake by picking Masisi, now an exile in a land his father fought hard to gain independence, a political oxymoron.
Other estranged lovers to President Masisi include former Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Carter Morupisi. When the two elephants started locking horns, Morupisi was the chief assailant used to break Khama’s back in an attempt to show him who calls the shots. Morupisi would later dance to the same tune when in February 2020, Masisi fired him and appointed Elias Magosi as his replacement. He was first suspended as PSP in 2019 before elections after corruption charges were laid against him in relation to the misappropriation of approximately P500 million which Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) had allocated to Capital Management Botswana (CMB), an asset manager. Morupisi would later be found guilty by the courts and given a P50, 000 fine as a slap in the wrist for his indicted corruption charges.
“I was very foolish to have appointed Masisi. I have apologised to the nation that I regret my decision,” Khama said as tensions escalated in the run-up to the watershed election in 2019 when he dramatically broke ranks with the BDP and formed his own party, the Botswana Patriotic Front. Residents of Selebi-Phikwe can also tell their side of story having encountered one of Masisi's multi-faceted colours when he promised to open the BCL Mine in the run up to the 2019 elections. With high spirits Masisi was adamant the mine’s assets had to be disposed to expedite the reopening of the mine in order to restore life to the defunct town of Selebi-Phikwe. Years later, Selebi-Phikwe is in hot soup for President Masisi travelling there is a mammoth of a task due to the anger that lingers in the atmosphere due to all the unmet promises that have left many to the claws of poverty. Balete can also narrate their fair share of the President’s tricky character after government and Balete tussled in the courts over a land issue that caused a rift between the tribal leader Kgosi Mosadi Seboko and Masisi.
The government had launched many attempts to try and grab the land from Balete which they had bought from colonisers. Masisi at some point promised that if Balete surrender the land to government he would ensure they get it back. When government tried to wrestle Balete’s land, it gave an unconvincing reason that Balete failed to pay the original owners of the outstanding balance.
Government said Balete’s debt compelled them to pay part of the loan therefore, were entitled to the land. As a build up to the 2024 elections gets more heated it will be interesting to see who will be thrown under the bus for political expediency and whether Masisi`s favourites will be able to maintain their top spots should the BDP claim electoral victory. .