Khama�s diplomatic tiff
Ryder Gabathuse | Friday May 8, 2015 16:01
President Khama and his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma were quoted widely by the media to have clashed with their Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe over xenophobic violence in South Africa.
The media quoted Zuma and Khama demanding that instead of blaming their neighbour, Zimbabwe and other SADC states must fix their broken economies to curb the rising tide of immigration.
It was Zuma who was the first to touch on the raw when he reminded, “other countries in the region should also come up with solutions instead of just criticising South Africa.”
He went further to state that xenophobia was not South Africa’s problem alone.
“As much as we have a problem that is alleged to be xenophobic, our sister countries contribute to this. Why are their citizens not in their countries?” Zuma asked as he shifted the debate towards the root causes of the problem away from symptoms.
Mugabe is said to have been incensed by Zuma’s address so much so that he got emotional and decided to dwell on the xenophobic attacks.
“After the Zuma-Mugabe battle, Khama is said to have then joined the fray supporting Zuma saying instead of focusing on xenophobia issues SADC leaders must address the root causes of the problem that include bad leadership and economic mismanagement which trigger waves of mostly illegal immigrants,” it was reported.
Khama is alleged to have said SADC leaders were then better informed thanks to Zuma and reportedly encouraged his Zimbabwean counterpart: “Let us address real issues and stop behaving as if South Africa is an employment bureau for the African continent.”
He is further quoted saying, “It’s because of some of us who have mismanaged our own economies that we have an influx of foreigners into South Africa.”
Worse, Khama is alleged to have left the meeting while in progress without even waiting for a response from Mugabe and other leaders. As protocol dictates, Khama could not even wait for the group photograph with other leaders.
It is not in doubt that Khama was stating the facts, as they are, if at all the report quotes him within context.
For starters, Khama is similar to his father, the late Sir Seretse Khama in terms of speaking the truth. But the difference in their characters is borne from the fact that the late Seretse was schooled in diplomacy, a trait that is apparently doubtful in his son.
“Khama does not mince his words. He is a straight talker whose point is driven home without any ambiguity no matter how hurting the point could be,” noted a youthful diplomat in the government enclave, a stone throw from the Office of the President.
Most importantly, the diplomatic source pointed out that if it were the late Seretse, he would have not left the meeting prematurely.
“Khama has a tendency of treating important regional meetings more like talking shops,” he said. Khama seems to be treating the regional meetings under the auspices of SADC merely as ‘Old boys connection’ or a meeting of comrades or brothers-in-arms who fought liberation wars to attain their independence.
A big question is whether Khama’s alleged clash with his Zimbabwean counterpart will really work for Botswana or not? Does it address the influx of illegal immigrant into the country?
The real trouble is that Khama has broken down the wall of silent diplomacy. Botswana government under Khama and his predecessors has for a long time been known for its silent diplomacy.
Whilst Gaborone-based political analyst, Anthony Morima is still reeling in shock at Khama’s disregard for diplomacy and international law he has picked just one positive from his (Khama’s) alleged demeanour in Harare recently.
“I have never been a proponent of silent diplomacy and as long as issues discussed at the level of state presidents do not touch on national security, the world has to know the position of a country,” said Morima, indicating that some people’s conscience are dead hence they can take advantage of silent diplomacy in the region.
He however, said that moving away from silent diplomacy does not suggest that leaders should go to the extreme side of things.
As part of the ‘soft law’, Morima suggests that a state president has to respect the sovereignty of other countries, treat other leaders as equals and further noted that unwritten laws of international community ought to be respected as well.
He said even if one state president was unhappy with the way his counterparts were doing things, it was untenable for a sate president to leave a meeting unfinished as at the end of the day in the case of Khama he left before his counterparts could even comment.
“As a state president, the demeanour or attitude towards certain protocols will certainly denote who you are and your beliefs.”
Morima noted that it was a positive that Khama attended a regional meeting which has not been the case on a number of occasions an that he was able to speak at the meeting expressing his views on pressing regional issues.
“What I can’t commend on is that he left a meeting unfinished even before other countries including Zimbabwe’s leader Mugabe who had his back to the wall could express their views,” said Morima.
He said it was a given that once immigrants are already in our country they ought to be given respect as human beings regardless of whether their stay is above board or they are illegal immigrants.
Morima fears that to the ordinary citizens on the street, the recent diplomatic spat could have been misconstrued as irresponsible and encouraging violence.
“If Khama is actually quoted within context, his body language suggests a leader who is distant from the rules of international law. In fact he has never held international law in high regard.”
He added that because Khama has seemingly never given the protocols and international laws a chance, may be this could be a result of his disregard for foreign relations.
As for the officers who were part of Khama’s entourage at the extraordinary summit, Morima observed that Khama’s demeanour has had far reaching implications on them.
“Definitely, Khama has sent wrong signals to the officers as you know, Ambassadors take cues from their presidents who are chief diplomats. If President Khama indeed left under circumstances as captured by the media, a million dollar question is whether his delegation left the meeting prematurely as well?” he wondered.
He analysed that in the long term some of the decisions will affect how other states will deal with us especially as it relates to the soft law.
At the end of the day, Morima blames, “lack of drilling in international laws and protocols on the side of our leaders as the main problem”.
Government spokesperson Jeff Ramsay this week denied accusations that Khama lost his temper and threw diplomatic caution to the wind.
He dismissed media reports associated with Khama in Zimbabwe at the summit describing it as simply speculative.
“The summit was a closed door meeting and anything reported is alleged to be a leak. I would not take it as entirely reliable and I can tell you the reports are not candid,” insisted Ramsay.
He also denied reports that Khama simply bolted out of the summit after his scathing attack on Mugabe explaining that other leaders knew Khama’s departure beforehand and there was nothing fishy about it. He was steadfast that each president had to fly out on scheduled time.
“He may be very strong in his approach when presenting but I have never seen Khama lose his temper as he is not an emotional person,” Ramsay said about his boss.
Quizzed if Khama’s utterances could have not left a trail of ‘diplomatic destruction’ at the summit Ramsay dismissed that school of thought as without basis.
“We know our regional challenges; economies, political situations and the like. Yes, a situation of this nature may be explosive, but I don’t think anybody really lost his/her temper at the summit,” denied Ramsay.
Despite Ramsay’s denial, the government Facebook page has posted a story from a South African online publisher bearing the headline: ‘Khama sympathises with Zuma at SADC summit’.
The story’s taste is not very far from the rest of other stories on the summit as it aptly captured the Khama/Zuma hard stance against Mugabe and his country.