Let�s never play with talk of assasinations

Lawrence Ookeditse | Wednesday April 30, 2014 14:45

 

Thus, nostalgia or any such sectarian interests must never be used to bring society close to the brink of war. The words that are attributed to the UDC launch of Major General Pious Mokgware are unfortunate, and dangerous. War is not sweet, and words such as that could easily incite violence and possible civil conflict. It has emerged from that rally that some people are in a hit list of people to be killed. This is apparently coming as a tip off from some within the DIS.

If the President of the Republic is found to have sponsored the list or to be behind it, then it is simple: the President must resign from office for he no longer would be fit to protect the lives of Batswana. He is charged with protecting the lives of even those who lead the opposition. While not exactly the same matter, we know that Richard Nixon resigned from the US Presidency in 1974 for far less serious things than intending to kill people.

This was after the Watergate Burglars broke into the Democratic Party’s National Committee offices on June 17, 1972. So important was this occasion that the House Judiciary Committee voted to accept three of four proposed Articles of Impeachment of the President, with some Republicans voting with Democrats to recommend impeachment of the President. The Supreme Court later ordered that he releases more of the so called House tapes and one of those proved he had participated in covering up the scandal. Thus, those who allege should prove that such exists, and if it does and the President is implicated, then he should step down. Reasonable people, both within the ruling party and in opposition, should find that purely logical.

But there is a problem.  For one, I do not believe anyone in the leadership of any opposition party is about to be killed. The election will come and go, and this something we can revisit in November. Fine, it does not then prove that there was never a hit list- but those who allege it have not proved it either. It is my opinion that those who allege this, if not merely for purposes of playing politics should prove the existence of such: and if such exists, then those responsible for it should be held to account.

As well, this talk started from a former military general. This part scares me a bit. The reason is that, Major General Pious Mokgware being an ex-soldier may still have loyalties back within the armed forces. Those loyal to him would, naturally, not take kindly to threats of this nature. Thus, since Major General Mokgware knows more than most of us that plunging a society into conflict from such words is not a very difficult thing to do, I would expect a bit more restraint on his part before revealing such allegations at a rally if it is true he did say such- unless he is carrying proof of the allegations.  

Why do I have my doubts: While anything is possible in society, reasonable people also know that we are not going to have a number of opposition leaders/ activists being killed seven months or so before an election because this will be traced to the party in power. Not only that, the deaths of such people would outright plunge this country into civil war, and I doubt those in power would love to preside over some war.

Similarly, while the BDP may be threatened by the UDC in certain areas, the BDP circumstances are not so dire as to make them kill political opponents. I do not see the BDP as having reached boiling point in its desperation. 

On another note, this country is so small and so dependent on the world that the BDP cannot successfully orchestrate violence and killings without a backlash that even the rulers will not stomach- they care too much of what the Western democracies would think to risk it. Lastly, I do not see the democratic principles of the BDP, not merely of the Executive, allowing such to happen.

Even if the rulers were to be dumb, they would not be as dumb as to wantonly kill their competitors. Thus, this is an implausible hypothesis. Those who tipped off the General ether lied or intended for him to embarrass himself for their own reasons. There is no way that Duma Boko or Gen. Mokgware will be killed before the election. It simply won’t happen.

Now, the excitement on Facebook and in other places about these allegations gravely shocked me. People here tend to get excited even over things they should not be getting excited over- nothing is exciting about Boko or Pious Mokgware being killed, nothing.

Nothing is worth getting excited over also about the rulers wanting to kill some people. So, whichever way you look at it, all this glee is reckless, the stakes are high here and we need to all be responsible in how we respond to these allegations for we do not as yet know with certainty what the truth is about them. We all have a people, a country to worry about in the event of such.