Khama danced on Motswaledi�s grave even before he was buried
Richard Moleofe | Friday August 22, 2014 11:29
The article published the story linking it to the death of Gomolemo Motswaledi whose death is still shrouded in mystery. Assassinations are the leading method of getting rid of political opponents and this has been used for centuries and it seems this is bound to continue for as long as politicians are poised to oppose each other. Those open to the vices of assassination include among others criminal gang leaders, political dissidents, business opponents and opinion writers like me.
One of the things that occur regularly the world over that many of us are oblivious to and yet it holds a great significance and bearing in the lives of our political leaders of all sorts and kind is assassinations. Political assassinations have happened even in the Bible days as we read the story Amnon, son of King David who was killed by the servants of Absalom his brother after raping his half-sister named Tamar. Later on it emerged that Absalom himself was assassinated by Joab, the Commander of David’s army.
Political assassinations have continued to this day and it seems the most endangered species which has become more prone to such method of elimination are politicians. And it seems this method has sustained to this day and is bound to continue. No crop of politicians is safe from eliminations as presidents and prime ministers have also fallen in the line of firing. The United States of America has the highest number of assassinated presidents. It started with Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James Garfield in 1881, William McKinley in 1901 and John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. And if so many presidents were left vulnerable to this vice, what more about us ordinary mortal men and women.
Tarig Anter Ole Africa writes that; “with few exceptions, political assassination is common in countries having liberal democracy; international secret societies; and powerful corporations. Such combination leads to the formation of organized criminality at top levels. Their criminal activities include political assassinations and massive corruption.” Allow me here to re-define the meaning of corruption; corruption is the abuse of power by politicians and public officials for personal gain at the expense of members of the public. With this in mind, there is a clear incentive for those in power to use assassinations are the number one method of elimination for those who want to consolidate their power and control over ordinary people. Assassinations cause fear and panic among members of the public. When a single one of them occurs without explanation, ordinary people get gripped with fear and begin to speak in hushed tones. Once fear has infiltrated a nation, any one person or group with evil intensions can subdue the entire country and keep it under total control. It seems no country is safe when it comes to assassinations.
In Colombia it’s the drug cartels fighting for the turf while in Japan it is the multinational corporations slugging it out for the top position. Let me mention here that according to Ole Africa, Japan is ranked number one in the world in terms of the highest number of assassinations and it is closely followed by the United States, Italy, Russia and France in that order. No sub-Saharan country has made it into the list of top thirty. At least for the moment we are not as bad as we often become as a continent.
As part of the feedback I received on last week’s instalment, I have decided to beef up my theory on the what could be Motswaledi’s assassination while waiting for forensic science to tell us what the real facts are. Some of my readers have out rightly dismissed the theory supporting the usurpation of power by the Umbrella for Democratic Change and accusing the BMD for being part of the old problem while still at BDP. Someone has said, “they cannot now come around the corner and tell us that they are different.” Well, I hear that but for the fact that their leaders know too much from the ruling party, that makes them vulnerable.
There are several factors on the ground that have really raised questions about the death of this iconic political leader. These have been revealed to us by the media and in certain instances where the media became silent it also raise a multitude of questions. Motswaledi’s death has surely been one of the greatest events that happened in 2014.
The absence of Btv at the funeral of that magnitude which has become second only to Seretse Khama’s in 1980 has left many people in nation asking questions. One thing people in Serowe said about Motswaledi’s funeral was that the vehicles that descended on the Ngwato capital were far greater than those that were present at Seretse’s funeral. Interestingly, Motswaledi was buried in the Goora Khama grave yard a short distance from the old Khama homestead where Seretse lived.
Before Gomolemo Motswaledi was buried, the president chose to be addressing political rallies in places like Manyana were he made inferences to this death. Not only that, he also came out to defend his government on the accusations of an assassination plot. Batswana around the country were glued to their television sets every evening waiting to hear the latest news on Motswaledi’s death. It was as if nothing had happened as far as the state media was concerned. For all this, I would not hesitate to say that Khama danced on Motswaledi’s grave even before he was buried. Furthermore, for some unknown reasons, government has chosen to publicise the investigation results on Motswaledi’s “fatal motor vehicle accident.” And the big unanswered question is; what particular interest government has in his death at this moment?
However, Motswaledi’s death has not been in vain. It has come to galvanize the resolve of the opposition camp and particularly that of UDC. His death has become a real game changer in Botswana’s political landscape. The UDC is going to benefit greatly in what may be referred as sympathy votes. Of course this is a country where the dead are revered and highly respected and the timing could never have been so wrong for the ruling BDP.
*Richard Moleofe is a Retired
Military Officer