Response from Mosu; about the Khama residence
Correspondent | Thursday September 11, 2014 11:34
I’m a Mosu resident by birth, and as such my comments should be treated as one from that village and would like to share with the rest of the citizens what I have come to know in terms of the image behind the residence in question. Let my comments not be construed to any political subscription, because as a matter of fact there are some few political ideological connotations that I’m not aligned with Khama on.
Personally, I have driven about 15 km from the village to the Khama residence, not once but twice and hope to do it again soon. The last time I have been to the Khama residence was in December 2012, and actually I was expecting him to arrive for the New Year festive. I left before he arrived though, because it was getting late not because I was running for my dear life.
In all these occasions of my excursions I found the residence welcoming and of course, as you can imagine there were some security personnel who did not even bother the fly around my face. As a villager, I understand why Khama has chosen such a sport; it’s a well laid back place, with the beauty of birds and a good view of the hill on the south.
But to be honest, I was disappointed. The Khama residence is just a humble abode; there is no glamour about it to write home about. Some of the structures in Mosu are quite better than the so assumed ‘palacial glitter’ in the heart of the pans. My disappointment is not much to expect that I wanted the golden structure suitable for the first citizen, but as the information has been made around the area, I was expecting a well manned estate with contemporary electronic linkages and security personnel patrolling the area with agitated dogs but this I failed to find. I can humbly indicate that, I have never made any appointment to visit but still I exercised my right of ‘homeboy visit’. I do not at all nullify the fear and trepidation as possibly indicated by my village mates, but what I know is I have personally not come across one (in the village) who shared with me about the dark mystery behind Khama and ‘his men of uniform’.
What I have come to know is that men of uniform are not always in the place, as we have been made to understand (unless if things have changed now). During that time (when the residence is empty), it is only village guards who make sure that goats and jackals do not destroy the fence of the residence. Those who occasionally take walks in the pans may also share their side of the story if ever they came across the ‘terror squad implicated and paraded’ within the pans. I will repeat again that without an experience of first hand terror and the iron curtain within the Makgadikgadi as mentioned by those who met it face to face should not make me doubt its merit, but by implying that the whole village is under a cloud and blanket of fear is not something that I truly treat as the revelation of events. To start with, whether the Khama residence is full or empty does not make any difference in the village, there is no pre-warning signal that we should not walk some certain paths within or around the village or even along the pan breadths. So I don’t why we should be so fearful? I am of the view that Mr President is one of the serious travellers around the country, be it in Mosu, Serowe, or Khawa, and the rest, but I have never heard such fear implications laid from some of those areas. Why would Mosu residents run to the caves and the mountains yonder for their lives at the mention of the first citizen’s name or even his arrival at the village?
GAKENAOPE GAKOLOGELWANG*