Botswana on a neoconservative retreat

| Wednesday August 12, 2009 00:00

The creator was then left in the lurch. Another innovated with the San lyrics and dance. The music was popularly received. We are now flooded with so called traditional music, most of which, in terms of choreography and lyrics adulterates our folk music. The trademark is sexism. It's all about 'Mosadi this and mosadi that'. Even in politics, as we go to elections, this plagiarism abounds. The BDP goes to the polls by the motto 'There is still no alternative,' a borrowing from Thatcherism that communicates neoconservatism. In this article I grapple with the manifestation of this retreat to the past.

In the 1980s, at the height of heightened resistance to her neoliberal project British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, declared that 'There is no alternative'. This is the dictum that Thatcher used to take the UK on a propelled neoliberal and neoconservative slide. Chang & Grabel (2005, p. 1) point out that the dictum 'captures the triumphalism, hubris, and closed-mindedness with neoliberal orthodoxy has dominated discussions of economic policy around the world in the last quarter of the century.' It is a dictum that the BDP, without acknowledgement, redeploys. Here I attempt to make sense of what it represents on the conservative end.

A couple of weeks ago, Sandy Grant in his column Etcetera II (Monitor, 06 July 2009) avidly captured the official conception of culture. He is certainly not alone with those grumps. The 'Cultural long drop' as Grant puts it, is embedded in the new government's neoconservative thinking. Neoconservatives always romanticise the past. They express a concern for the preservation of authority, traditional values and institutions. They believe that the role of government is to uphold traditional values and morals. They believe in free market economy, traditional values and morals, and a strong a militarised state. 

They want a return to discipline and traditional knowledge. They have a vision for a Malope-Masilo past. One element of neoconservatism is authoritarian populism, which seeks a return to God in all our social and political institutions. Their sense of history is that of the dominant. Recognition of the history of the other is divisive. That explains why when dissenting voices on public policy emerge, the political leadership always impresses upon us to be patriotic and place Botswana first. Anything else is subordinate.

When the Presidential baton changed hands, the priority of the new leadership was moral decadence and indiscipline in society. The alcohol levy was imposed to curtail society's wayward behaviour, road traffic laws had to be amended to steep up charges and fines to instil a sense of discipline in motorists, the tertiary education students were warned that strikes and demonstrations would earn them a ban from serving in the public service upon completion. The Presidency then assembled a Commission on moral values headed by Kgosi Puso Gaborone. The composition of that commission reflects true neoconservatism; the priests, and chiefs - the most conservative elements of our society. There were no professionals such as sociologists, social workers, and no religious minorities like Muslims. Given the composition of that commission, it was simply a waste of public funds as the answers were given - flog children in the Kgotla, ban child and human rights organisations, counsel women on proper dress, keep lawyers out stock theft, close down bars etc. This is what reverberated in the various dikgotla. It was therefore not surprising when female public servants were reminded of the office dress code that imposed limits on cleavage exposure and tight pants. The Halaal debate was rekindled and the state made prescriptions on it. The conservative retreat is ongoing.

We now have a President who sits by the fireplace in the Kgotla, listening to histories and folktales of merafe. A real Kgosi that attaches importance to the Kgotla and what it stands for. To an old man in the village this is unimaginable and reflects remarkable leadership. It reflects respect for our core values -and it works for the neocons. We have a Presidency that drops in homes uninvited, shaking hands with the common man and women - and the drama is circulated in the electronic media. Powerful propaganda indeed!

The new Presidency, in the name of cultural revival and recognition of artists declared the President's holidays a cultural week and doles out cash prizes to artists. I have no gripe with artists and culture. The critical point, as Sandy Grant argues, is to define what this cultural revival represents. Lately there is so much fanfare about Bogwera and Bojale. Professionals have suddenly found a past time adventure. Circumcision is in vogue, and some spurious quantitative studies are quoted to give it a health badge. The public is not informed whether major health agencies such as UNAIDS and WHO have universalised circumcision as an HIV/AIDS preventative strategy. Is Bogwera still a rite of passage? How does it connect with modern schooling and health matters? Is it still linked to nation building and the traditional military? These are the questions that are conveniently swamped in this euphoria.

Recently, The Bakgatla chief announced that in the name of mophato spirit, Bakgatla owned companies have been registered. While this may be a novel idea of self-reliance and community development, we need to interrogate it in the context of a nation state.

We all know that in a developing country like ours, the source of business is government. Now, as a Mokwena, can I buy shares in such companies? The danger of such developments, if not critically assessed is that we may be redrawing the pre-1966 ethnic boundaries. The Balete may also revive their mephato and form Balete companies. If other ethnic groups follow suit, the competition of business in government will assume ethnic dimensions. We would therefore have to establish ethnic connections in the bureaucracy to facilitate the growth of our companies. We should remember Leno Real estates.

Connected to this is the revival of cultural festivities. There is so much excitement about dikgafela and letlhafula festivals. It is even taken up by some government departments like Water Affairs. We are treated to the relish of cultural foods. In all honest would we still expect our children to eat lengangale, bogobe jwa lerotse, dobi of ledelele? Certainly, this is not part of their cultural cuisine. We are just duped by conservative elements of our society in the name of cultural revival.

These permutations of a neo-conservative agenda are not very new. A decade ago, as minorities agitated for Constitutional reform, supremacists closed ranks in the name of preserving unity of the nation state and reviving culture. An organisation known Pitso ya Batswana, which narrowly defined Batswana as the Malope-Masilo lot, was formed. A prominent journalist claimed to have conducted some research that asserted that the scale in senior public service positions was tilted in favour of one minority group. A Setswana conference was hastily convened at Maharaja Conference centre and a Setswana newspaper, Mokgosi hit the market. All these were organisations and institutions of the moment, designed to push the neoconservative agenda. It is this mounting pressure that made the then President to go on a rebound on the Balopi Commission. But I should think it is not a dead issue, unless these organisations have gone underground. For those of us who knew how neoconservatism usually manifests itself, we were neither amused nor placated

Mino Polelo
Gaborone