Should there be a law against racism in Botswana?
Michael Dingake | Thursday April 23, 2015 18:55
An example of theory in practice of the perpetual struggle of the opposites in life? Be that as it may, apparently some Kasane holidaymakers continue to mistake Botswana for the Bechuanaland Protectorate of yore where the expatriate colonial settlers were ruled by one law, Batswana by two laws: one, the native custom and another, the master and servant law. Tshekedi Khama wasn’t au fait with the distinction. His ignorance landed him in a soup when he had young McIntosh flogged Tswana-style, for committing a native offence in a native country when he was not a native!
On the eve of independence in 1965, Seretse Kham who was leader of the Botswana Democratic Party, later proudly renamed Domkrag (carjack in the language of Afrikaner bigots) annoyed one of his white sympathisers when he announced Domkrag policy for independent Botswana, whose constitution would be antithetical to apartheid across the border. “Independent Botswana would scorn apartheid, a policy of racial discrimination, it shall not be tolerated…all shall be equal before the constitution,’’ he is reported to have announced at a Lobatse public rally where he was whipping up ecstasy for the transformative event of independence; unaware he was antagonising potential supporters in the audience. Wild cheers of ‘Tsholetsa Domkrag’ (party slogan) contended with sneers of disapproval…
Van-Somebody (full name forgotten) a suspected Domkrag supporter was overheard addressing his son, in high dudgeon: ” Seun, laat ons loop; nou praat hy k...k” (Son, let’s go, now he is talking s…t!) Seretse Incidentally had married a white English lady, Ruth Williams seven years back and had provoked the ire of Dr DF Malan’s apartheid government which promptly declared him persona non grata in SA. Malan’s all-white parliament had promulgated, in double-quick succession, shortly after winning the 1948 general elections, the Immorality Act outlawing carnal relations between whites and blacks and the Mixed Marriages Act prohibiting mixed marriages (between whites and bantu).
Seretse’s marriage furore probably was the direct cause for his banishment from his home territory and exile in Britain. It’s possible that the ‘brothers apartheid’ in Bechuanaland had forgotten or were playing down any future backlash of Seretse’s humiliation; alternatively the Lobatse man’s view was that Seretse’s in-law-ship being a fait accompli, he would behave respectfully to his in-laws and their laws! To hear Seretse threaten to abolish apartheid was going beyond the pale. Be that as it may Seretse’s repudiation of the racist policy in an independent Botswana was the last straw for him. Racism is a deformity in human society!
We are supposed to be one race, the human race, but some of our species are nauseated by the sight of the kindred species wearing a different pigmentation. It’s an abomination, an object for exploitation, hate, contempt, ridicule and oppression, it’s galling experience, this different colour-hate phenomenon! Incidentally race is not the only feature that distinguishes one human species from another: religious fundamentalism, social class (the distinction between rich and poor), language are some of the features that keep humanity at each others throat.
For racists different skin pigmentation of other sub-species is like a red rag before a bull. Racism is the most intractable and the most vicious polarizer in modern human relations. Blacks have suffered racism throughout the ages: slavery, colonialism, apartheid, you name it! Those who allege there is and can be racism in reverse are wrong. Except perhaps as retaliatory or defensive reaction.
Slavery was abolished in the US almost two centuries back, yet racism continues to run riot in the US: White police officers according to media reports have made black Americans shooting targets even under the scarecrow black president, Barack Obama; under the so-called British Protectorate Batswana were bluffed and made to believe they weren’t subjected to discrimination until the McIntosh and Seretse cases surfaced; in spite of exposure we remained obsequious, saluted, hailed and sang praises to the queen/king and kinsmen/women even after the winds of change had blown over; why?
Blacks remain poor generally , underpaid, underprivileged, subservient under a variety of neocolonial influences in spite of the laws and policies that put them atop of the hierarchical power structures. Why?
Do we need more laws besides the constitution? I don’t think so. What we need is Racism Watch, armed with whistleblowers to monitor, stalk, run down and kill racism wherever it lives in our peace-loving country. We can’t leave the extinction of racism in our country to chance. Of course we mustn’t allow our watchfulness to degenerate to this thing that is shamefully trending in SA, xenophobia. No, we must just concentrate on weeding out this canker and making Botswana and helping the world, a better place to be.
By the way, in hunting down racist attitudes, we’ll do well to remember that this phenomenon is also encouraged by some Batswana who openly flaunt bokgowa (whiteness) as a paradigm of all things desirable: beauty, excellence and virtue. You see and hear it everyday: Makgowa are served with a smile and blacks with a scowl, at service counters - private and public - by Batswana; police hesitate to take action against lekgowa suspect; anyone handsome, beautiful or personable is lekgoanyana; anything admirable is sekgoanyana. Jeepers! Why are Batswana so brainwashed, pathetic and so self-effacing? We are lucky, HERE and NOW, we won’t be killed or imprisoned for trying to sweeten human relations!
Editor’s note: Due to technical problems, this column did not appear on the Tuesday edition and we bring it to you today. However, it remains a Tuesday column.