The unchallengeable,disputed king of the ring
Ryder Gabathuse - PAULINE ROD SMITH | Wednesday July 23, 2025 10:41
And as things stand, history has a way of repeating unwanted and ugly episodes. Once in power, politicians have a tendency of disregarding the 1887 observation of historian, John Dalberg - Acton “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Former president, Mokgweetsi Masisi-led regime, which was characterised by a reign of terror, illustrates Acton’s concerns. The regime’ s obsession with and love for power was deep. As the helmsman, Masisi fully exploited it to suppress both perceived and real enemies of the State both in the opposition ranks and the democratic voice of dissent within the party he led.
Early in his presidency in 2019, his actions demonstrated that he desired to be an unchallengeable and disputed king of the ring. The removal from Cabinet of veteran politician, Pelonomi Venson-Motoi showed how trigger-happy the president and those close to him were. Her crime was to dare to wrestle the presidency of the BDP from Masisi at the time, the latter wanted to test his leadership acumen as a party and state president proper after about a year at the helm when his predecessor’s time in office was up. Instead of celebrating that at least a female politician had shown interest in enriching BDP inner democracy, Venson-Moitoi was instead castigated for causing ‘instability’ in the then ruling party and that she tried to disturb Masisi’s presidency.
Songs were composed sending home a clear message: “Tlogelang Masisi a buse (Don’t disrupt the Masisi presidency).” The story did not end there as Venson-Moitoi would also complain about the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) sleuths unleashed upon her to terrorise left, right and centre, forcing her to acrimoniously withdraw from the presidential race. At some stage, she was even labelled a ‘foreigner’ or a derogatory ‘monyasa’ by her nemesis.
On the other horizon, a fall out with former Finance Minister Dr. Thapelo Matsheka attracted the wrath of the regime evidenced by unleashing of security agents against him, which resulted in the incarceration of the revered economist for an alleged crime of ritual murder which has since brought the State and Matsheka sharply face-to-face as the economist fights to expose the ‘skeletons’ from Masisi’s closet. Subsequently, there is a pending civil case before the courts through which Matsheka wants to expose the ‘injustices’ he attributes to the Masisi regime through the DIS agents who are yet to connect the economist to the crime he was suspected to have committed.
The actions of the Masisi regime were oblivious of a famous statement attributed to a German statesman Otto Von Bismarck that, ”you can do everything with bayonets except to sit on them”. Little did they realise the use of force was not a sustainable way of consolidating political power. Little wonder, Masisi was to hold the notorious distinction of becoming Botswana’s first one-term president. This is despite that Masisi had started off like a house on fire, regaining what the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had lost in the previous polls when his predecessor, Ian Khama had marginal win with the BDP winning with a popular vote of about 47%. Despite that the BDP was just emerging from a second split that had birthed Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), the Masisi-led BDP improved the party fortunes by giving the BDP a rebound via 52 % popular vote. For starters, the party’s first major split saw the birth of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) in 2010 when a long-time faction of the BDP, Barata-Phathi morphed into a political party.
Under Masisi, freedom of the press was under attack. Newspaper editors and scribes were arrested and sent to the notorious Sebele DIS interrogation and intimidating chamber. Take for instance, the arrest of Mmegi editor, Ryder Gabathuse and senior reporter, Innocent Selatlhwa who faced harrowing questioning bordering on interference with the freedom of the press. This is one arrest that attracted both local and international attention and wide condemnation. The timing of the arrest appeared to have been deliberately calculated to interfere with production of the newspaper as it was executed a few minutes before the newspaper went to bed. This was a clear and undisguised assault on media freedom by a leader professing to subscribe to the ideals of democracy while his actions shifted the country ‘s narrative to a different direction. Despite the reality that the two journalists would later be set free, no charges were preferred against them. This certainly gave the intelligence community space to intimidate newshounds as they wished.
Integrity is the bedrock of the foundation of a democracy. A government that owes its existence to the people that put it into power has an obligation to govern in the best interests of the governed. One of the cardinal values of democracy is integrity. Integrity is about honesty. As Simon Sinek put it, “lack of integrity is at best hypocrisy and at worst lying”. With hindsight benefit, it has become abundantly clear that the Masisi regime was not honest and transparent about the country’ s deteriorating fiscus position. His government behaved as if it were business as usual. The lie was convenient for political considerations since the truth would have made his quest for re-election even more difficult.
Guided by the invisible hand of God, Batswana managed to cast their votes in favour of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) because that time around they were able to smell a rat and see the Masisi’ s brand of BDP for what it was. Rather than resorting to belt tightening and austerity measures, the Masisi government went on a shopping spree in America overburdening the treasury with the purchase of bulls and heifers ferried to Botswana at high costs. Masisi and his lieutenants played to the gallery, most of the time choosing to tell Batswana what they wanted to hear and not what they needed to hear. Deception has short legs and Batswana could not take it anymore.
To add salt to injury, hasty and ill-conceived economic programmes intended to buy votes were introduced when it was clear to the government about their sustainability. Introduced late in the day a couple of months before the election, Chema Chema was a vote buying scheme and not a genuine intervention, intended to tackle poverty, unemployment and under- employment. And as fate would have it, Chema Chema did not stand the test of time.
Retired University of Botswana (UB) lecturer in politics and administrative studies, Adam Mfundisi told Mmegi this week, former president Masisi came into the highest office in the land through a controversial constitutional dispensation where the Vice President (VP) automatically assumes the presidency upon departure of the incumbent due to whatever reason.
He was concerned that Masisi had captured some section of the media (both government and private alike). Masisi knew and was advised of the vulnerability of the media in Botswana and he exploited it to the fullest. “In effect, the media fraternity in some cases, lacked professionalism, knowledge, integrity, and ethics in objective analysis of national issues.
In addition, there was glaring poverty and deprivation of the profession, hence susceptibility to manipulation and corruption,” he said and added that political corruption seemingly dominated the Masisi regime.
In his view, Mfundisi insists that Masisi didn’t fire Venson-Moitoi merely because she contested for the position of president of the BDP, but because she represented character, integrity, and professionalism. She was a woman candidate of high calibre and intellectual prowess.
He noted that President Masisi was vulnerable to intellectual engagement. Hence, he chose VP Slumber Tsogwane, “a political lightweight. “
If Masisi was a good leader, Mfundisi feels he could have allowed her to stand to challenge his otherwise questionable democratic credentials. “He was paranoid, insecure, and a weak leader to lead Botswana. Hence, he collapsed the economy, society, politics and environment of the country. He is the worst president of Botswana”, said Mfundisi. He also noted that Matsheka might not be an angel, “but how he was booted out of office was evil and treacherous.
The insecurity of president Masisi seems to have led to the weaponisation of State institutions, processes, and people to fight political battles,“ he observed.
The political analyst is concerned that the DIS was utilised as a weapon to undermine and prosecute political opponents and competitors. To him, Matsheka symbolised ethics and accountability. “He revealed rampant corruption and maladministration in government including misuse of public funds during the COVID-19 pandemic which somehow plotted his downfall.” argues Mfundisi.