The President is right; we are jealous of our own

Kgosietsile Ngakaagae | Friday May 21, 2021 14:27

I do not know what examples he had in mind. I can only hope he wasn’t referencing the Indian examples. As a general proposition, however, he was right.

Time and time again, we have talked about the PHD syndrome; that evil spirit that drives us not to bear the success of fellow Batswana.

In my experience, in criminal defence work, the only people who ever get charged with corruption are black Batswana. How many Asians, and whites do you know of, that have ever been convicted for corruption or other economic crimes? Yet, plenty of corruption that the President speaks of, happens within the Asian Batswana communities.

When a former Director of Roads, was investigated for corruption, alongside an Asian contractor who had allegedly bribed him, it was the Asian who was made an accomplice witness. The indigenous  Motswana, was buried. The Asian was favoured with more tenders despite his unequivocal confession. 

Back in the 1990s, when foreign construction companies (Asian and white), were accused of bribing a former Botswana Housing Corporation official, it was the Motswana who was pursued (and is still being pursued with a prosecution). Not one of the alleged Asian or white bribers ever went into the dock. In Botswana, corruption only comes in black.  Corruption is punished only in black. Corruption is prosecuted only, in black. We are cursed.

I do not pretend that persons of Asian extraction have never appeared in our courts. They have. Hardly ever, for corruption. When the Fenhuye Glass project unraveled, it was Batswana who were the pariahs. You never saw a Chinese face in a newspaper headline, as a “face of corruption”.  Our law enforcement system is engaged in some serious racial profiling, against Batswana. It is the black entrepreneur,  that is always at the wrong end of the stick.

My submission is not that corruption by black Batswana must be tolerated. I simply say that there must be substantive as well as comparative justice. A law enforcement system that discriminates against its people deserves no respect.Some day, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) may advise on how many of the corruption reports they have received in any given year were about people of Asian extraction.

What we do know, is that only those of black Batswana end up court. Take the pervasive vilification of Khato Civils, a black owned company in the mega tender sector. Last year, politicians made song and dance about the company. It was suggested that same had corrupted the President yet, no evidence was ever produced. This company had won only two tenders out of the more than 40, it had tendered for. You’d be forgiven to think that the company had robbed the reserve  bank. None of the companies that have plied the sector before it, has received so much vitriol. 

Yet ours, has been a history of incomplete projects, late delivery and cost overruns by Asian companies. Ours has  been a history of unbridled corruption. It never mattered, because it was all Asian rapine. But a 100% black company owned by one of us, was cursed with contumelious epithets, even before it began its first job. When it demonstrated that it had lived up to its  undertakings, the invectives continued.

The Khato Civils example, best exemplifies our wretched condition. Somehow, we do not like to see other Batswana succeeding. I make a general proposition, here. I concede exceptions. When a fellow Motswana succeeds; its corruption. Fancy this; an uncle of mine, a nurse, built a house next to what was considered the most beautiful house in the immediate neighbourhood, in his village, somewhere near Francistown.

The DCEC called later, asking about his income sources. The dethroned neighbour had wondered to the DCEC as to where a nurse got the money to build so good a house.  Consider this too. It is hard to know of any Motswana in the construction sector that the DIS and DCEC are not after. They are after Estate Construction and just about every black owned company. They have frozen the company’s assets and made its existence a nightmare. When it comes to the Asian and Arab companies, they have simply looked away. No Asian company has ever suffered asset restraint or forfeiture.

In the ongoing NPF cases, the DCEC alleged that money had been siphoned corruptly to Israel. They locked up all alleged citizen role players including Kenneth Kerekang, Bakang Seretse and Isaac Kgosi. They told the the country, that they were pursuing the Israeli dimension of the corruption, and had asked for Mutual Legal Assistance.

Tired of the accusations, an Executive of Dignia Systems Israel, flew to Botswana on own volition and knocked on the doors of DCEC. They served him tea, recorded a statement from him (which I have), and let him go. No arrests; no charges. Then they went to court again and continued lying that they were pursuing proceeds of crime in Israel.

So when the President talked about Batswana being jealous of each other, I understood. We are gravely toxic. Sadly, the toxicity has become institutionalised. It’s  witchcraft. We need to change.