Unshackle the poor from economic servitude

Staff Writer | Wednesday January 22, 2014 17:00

A day will not pass without President Ian Khama accompanied by his cabinet ministers and confidant Thapelo Olopeng appearing in the government media donating food, football kits and blankets to the poor. These leaders have taken the Biblical saying that ‘happy is the hand that gives’ to another level.

Helping the marginalised in society has become a political campaign tool for Khama and company. There is nothing wrong with extending a helping hand to the less privileged. But by stooping so low to brazenly take advantage of the poor for political gain is disingenuous and hypocrisy of the highest order.  As this is a general election year, the devious exhibition of the underprivileged by the people who are detached from the circumstances of the neglected, will be on the daily menu of the state media. The nation will be bored to death by these opportunistic donations.  

Botswana will be celebrating 48 years of independence in September and we still have politically, economically and socially unconscious people who could easily be manipulated for political gain. These are the very people who are living under slavery conditions at cattle posts owned by the ruling class. They live under the false impression that the founding president, the late Sir Seretse Khama will punish them if they vote for any other party other than the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

To perpetuate the circle of poverty amongst the so-called low class, the powers that be have implanted this false belief on the downtrodden. Since it is the desire of the ruling class for the status quo to remain, it is the social responsibility of the progressive lot to deliver the downtrodden from slavery. It should be the mission of the educated to liberate the unfortunate and vulnerable communities from mental slavery.

Be warned that one day, the marginalised will be fed up with their present living conditions and mount a revolution against slavery by the ruling class. The ruling class should be reminded that in most of the revolutions in the world, the politically marginalised were at the forefront.

The revolution is imminent if the governing class discourteously continues undermining the masses by continuously displaying without fail their miserable faces in the state media. The vulnerable and marginalised people also deserve some respect. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.