Khama and the private media: Who hates who?
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday January 30, 2015 17:00
Khama and his government have had skirmishes with the private media to the extent that the Office of the President (OP) previously issued a statement stating that he was prepared to fund members of his Cabinet when they sue media practitioners and their media houses for rubbing them the wrong way.
Last year, The Sunday Standard newspaper senior reporter Edgar Tsimane fled the country to neighboring South Africa in fear of being arrested under repressive laws. Tsimane is wanted by the law enforcement agents on sedition charges following a story he authored claiming that Khama was involved in a car accident that was personally driven by him. His editor, Outsa Mokone was arrested and charged with sedition. These were just the level of extremes that for years many in the industry feared would reach, and now have. The animosity had long been there.
Months after Khama had assumed the reigns in 2008, his personal friend and now Cabinet minister, Thapelo Olopeng arranged meetings between the President and editors, and even sought a slot for private journalists to accompany him on international assignments. But that was short-lived.
This may be so because the private media resisted attempts to appease it into silence. In a democratic dispensation like Botswana, the media plays a vital role of making the leaders accountable. And in most instances, the Botswana media seems to be doing just that. But not all agree. Laying the foundation on the Khama/private media incursions, a young professional at OP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says instead of playing its information dissemination role, the private media has taken to victimising the President.
He says according to his principal, the media has taken an adversarial position against him.
“The very negative attitude towards Khama as a person and administrator is destructive and divisive. Khama views himself as a nation builder and does not want to dwell on negativity,” says the officer, insisting that Khama does not hate the private media, but abhors its negativity.
He describes Khama as a person who wants positive people around him and shuns persons that thrive on negativity.
He doubts the private media’s commitment to fair, ethical and transparent coverage indicating that it leaves a lot to be desired.
For the private media to be taken seriously, he encourages the fourth estate to pause and reflect on its coverage of Khama. He believes that the private media hates Khama, noting that some journalists do not rise above the personality of the President and deal with issues on their own merits. The deputy executive secretary of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Lee Lesetedi does not see any hatred from both the media and Khama sides.
“I wouldn’t call it hatred in anyway. The only issue is on how stories are presented by the media. In a way, the President feels that he has come to a stage where he challenges the media to be more credible and responsible and avoid writing fiction,” he says.
He feels that the other hurdle that could make Khama appear inaccessible could be the way the media possibly deals with the officers at the OP.
“Look, when there are opportunities he can be accessible and field questions from various media houses,” he says citing a few interactions he had with the private media and others in Mahalapye and Tlokweng.
Lesetedi says Khama is generally worried at the way stories about his government and party are presented, and he has now chosen to ignore the private media.
Experts explain the media as a player in an adverse roles, acts as a watchdog and agenda-setter. The media exposes violations of the moral and social order.
Most importantly, the media seeks to create and sustain public debate. Journalists examine in a truly radical way the assumptions and premises of a community. The media’s role is to constitute public debate about, not within, the prevailing political order. Is Botswana’s private media irresponsible and boring so much that it does not even attract the eye of the first citizen?
The national director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Botswana Chapter), Buyani Zongwani, believes that the current Khama-led government does not want to be held accountable. “Whatever they do, they don’t want to be criticised and they tend to personalise things when the media question certain things,” Zongwani said. He holds a strong view that Khama and his government don’t want to be held accountable amongst others by the media.
“When Khama took over, he enlisted the government media under the Office of the President in an endeavour to control information which is the best thing he wants to do,” he noted.
Zongwani notes that comparatively, when the late ex-vice president Mompati Merafhe was the minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation under the former president Festus Mogae’s era, he was approachable.
“When he was under Khama, he had changed and was arrogant to the media and it shows that he had adopted his new master’s way of doing things,” observes Zongwani.
The MISA director observes that Khama’s attitude towards the media is generally entrenched in his thinking and socialisation, as he does not want to be held accountable, especially in the public.
Sometime in the past, the President of Botswana Confederation of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) Lekwalo Mosienyane attempted to reconcile the warring ends.
Zongwani says MISA Botswana embraced the approach but then again, “the media is not supposed to be a friend of anybody. We are not saying we are enemies but the media has to be left to hold its leaders to account.
“In fact, the media is not an enemy of the society either but it requires space to operate unhindered. If the media cannot be allowed to play its watchdog role and incessantly make its leaders account, then this nation will go to the dogs”. His take is that media has to be seen to be playing its watchdog role efficiently and within a space that is unpolluted.
He warns that a passive media runs the risk of creating a fertile ground for dictatorship since the leaders will not be called to account rather they would do as they wish.
Political commentator, Anthony Morima, notes that in the first instance, Khama does not want accountability and as such any institution that calls him to account will rub him the wrong way.
“Khama’s behaviour is adverse to the media because it does not only challenge him to account but to account publicly,” says Morima.
Observers have noted that attitude is grounded on Khama’s background and having always been in a position of authority.
The President attained the rank of army Brigadier at a young age of 24 and was, at the inception of the Botswana Defence Force deputy army commander. When Merafhe left to join politics in 1989, Khama took over as the army commander.
Morima feels that given the military background, Khama has a penchant for not taking accounting bodies seriously.
In his view, Khama is probably tormented by the reality that the independent media is private, robust and critical of the sitting government.
He says it was not shocking when the BDP sabotaged a private radio station Gabz FM in its coverage of the national debate during the 2014 general election campaigns.
“Independent questions from the private media which was probing and forcing leaders to account for their term in office forced the BDP politicians to rather prefer the debates carried by the state-owned Radio Botswana.”
Morima feels that the acrimony raised by Khama’s government on the coverage of the private media is an attempt to defend the status quo and avoid any element or opportunity that will show there is an alternative to the government’s view.
“Fortunately because we have a strong private media, the effect of the Khama government on our democracy has been minimal. If our private media was weak, the consequences could have been calamitous and it would definitely weaken our democracy.”
On Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Morima says if the widely publicised leaked tape is true then it shows that Khama and Masisi share similar sentiments on the private press.
A plot to sabotage the private media by starving it of advertising mainly because it has been critical of the government and the ruling party was leaked and given wider coverage across the pluralistic media.
“That is a dangerous trend in our government for a state minister to make such utterances of sabotage simply as a means of vengeance,” notes Morima.
He fears that when developments of the nature of hacking, like the case of Mmegi Online, some people may start pointing accusing fingers towards the government because of its anger on its citizens. Instead, Morima suggests it will be an ideal situation where the government is supportive of the private media as a partner in development.