Defence spending
Richard Moleofe | Tuesday March 18, 2014 11:35
Ultimately, when Ian Smith intensified the military incursions into Botswana, Seretse had to succumb to the idea of creating an army for Botswana. In April 1977, Botswana Defence Force was established through an act of parliament and Seretse was in great pain seeing this idea materialise but could do very little to change the circumstances.
Seretse’s reluctance was borne from the fact that Botswana was still a poor backwater country with much more pressing needs in terms of the development of the country. There was barely any infrastructure in place and the newly found diamond wealth was dedicated to getting the country from its economic sickbed. Besides this, Seretse had just been spearheading a nationwide appeal for the building of Botswana’s university after Lesotho expelled all the students from Botswana and Swaziland without notice from Pius XII University and thus renaming it National University of Lesotho (NUL). Pius XII was a colonial arrangement for the three satellite colonies of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. Botswana University Campus Appeal known with its acronym, BUCA became a shining example of what self-reliance could be in this country. The appeal was to raise R3 million for the establishment of the current University of Botswana. The appeal was so successful and the dream of constructing a national university was realised within a short space of time. The rich and the poor, rural and urbanites had responded with much vigour to the call by the State President who spearheaded the appeal.
Seretse’s apprehension in supporting the creation of Botswana Defence Force was hinged on the fact that he had just in the previous year completed the aforementioned appeal. He was at pains to justify where the money would come from when it was time to build a military machine when there was none for building an institution of learning. He found this forbidding. This past week, we read in the Friday publication of Mmegi that the government of Botswana is at an advanced stage of purchasing brand new T-50 Light Fighter jets from South Korea. If the dead can see, Seretse must be turning in his grave.
The fact that it is now his sons and their cousins who are now pushing the envelope for the purchase of these machines leaves one speechless. How can we be spending well over P4 billion on none productive assets? I for one coming from a military background will always support sensible military spending but I really think government has lost its senses in this particular matter. Yes we have a standing army, we either keep it or dissolve it but at the present moment I am of the opinion that we keep it with the bare minimum this economy can afford. Initially military spending must be directed to the maintenance and welfare of the existing personnel rather than spending money overseas and in the process creating jobs for that South East Asian country.
When money is spent in the upkeep of our troops it will have a trickledown effect in that the average soldier will spend it in an environment that he exists within. The average soldier is young and would not hesitate to spend any disposable income and in the process driving the economy. In the age of belt tightening, we cannot afford to spend money on the procurement of none performing assets. Anything that this country spends its money on at this difficult hour should have a trickledown effect on the men and women on the streets. We cannot afford to spend money on jet fighters when we are not faced with the eminence of war or such similar hostilities.
If the purchase of this aircraft can be done now, it will be an abomination and an insult to the citizens of this country who have more pressing needs of life and death before them. Let us take a closer look at our priorities particularly in the health sector. Princess Marina which is a referral hospital for the entire southern sector of the country has not had a functioning scan for doing ultra sound or mammograms on women who are suspected to be hosting cancer cells in their breasts. *Rev. Richard Moleofe is a retired military officer.