Comrade Madam Speaker Sir in opposition ranks
Bame Piet | Friday January 29, 2016 16:00
After months of speculation, the former Speaker of the National Assembly Margaret Nasha finally joined the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) last weekend, and was immediately assigned the post of special advisor. The weight of Nasha’s experience in politics and governance, and the impact of her departure from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) can only be undermined by a person in denial. Such are in denial that climate change is upon us; that the earth is round; and that excessive fat causes heart problems.
There is no doubt that her age, and experience Nasha will give guidance to the mostly young and ‘exuberant’ UDC - made of Botswana National Front (BNF), Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Botswana People’s Party (BPP). The Umbrella has already shown signs of fragility, especially the youth and the contentious ‘re-admission’ of Sydney Pilane to the BMD.
Nasha has worked under three presidents of Botswana - Sir Ketumile Masire, Festus Mogae, and Ian Khama. She has served in many central committees of the BDP, and has seen the party’s internal wars being resolved peacefully, something that has kept it together until 2009 and 2010. These latter years saw the birth of BMD in Mogoditshane and the pioneers were dismissed as selfish, indisciplined, and arrogant individuals.
The first thing that Nasha should assist the UDC with is the party president’s handling of the media. She started her career as a journalist at Department of Information and Broadcasting, before joining other departments. She was later to become High Commissioner of Botswana to the United Kingdom.
Independence of parliament
Nasha’s endeavour to wrestle the independence of Parliament from the Office of the President was undoubtedly the main reason BDP backbenchers and opposition MPs adored her. Infact, the case between President Khama and the National Assembly, otherwise known as ‘Lehenza’ case was testimony of that. Nasha earned herself a lot of sympathisers. Hundreds thronged the Gaborone High Court to hear for themselves what the woman’s crimes were. For many years the issue of independence of Parliament has been a hot potato.
But is it possible to get that independence?
As a special advisor, Nasha will be holding a powerful position that comes with trust.
Why not go home and rest
Many Batswana believe that after serving for decades in the public service, one has to surrender themselves to the cattle post and wait for the Maker’s call to finally rest. Nasha seems not to follow that trend; she wants to see her passion to the end. She is passionate about politics as evidenced in her decades in the BDP and in the public service, and therefore there is no reason why she should surrender to the cattle post. At her age she can still serve the country for many more years.
How old is Nasha?
Nasha cannot be classified as old in a country that only got independence half a century ago and got its first University just over three decades ago. She was among the first public servants who found no foundation to work on.
Born the same year as United States Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Nasha is still in good health and has age on her side to continue serving the country in different capacities. It is strange that under the government, there are some people considered old, yet we have judges who are close to 80 years old.
The highest court in the land - the Court of Appeal is made up judges some of whom are over 75 years old. These are the men, (we do not have a woman in the Court of Appeal) who can decide whether a convict goes to the gallows, spends the rest of his life in jail, or regains his/her freedom.
It is not just an ‘African thing’ for leaders to be past their ‘prime’ when they go and serve in political office. As stated before, Clinton is 69 years of age, born the same year in 1947 as our own Nasha. In fact only seven years older than President Khama. Back to the US, another presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders was born in September 1941 meaning that he will be 75 years old sometime this year. He is aspiring to lead the world’s superpower.
As the saying goes, only those who choose to be old will get old. If you compare Sanders with some of his age mates in Botswana, you would think some of them are his father’s age. Nasha should simply follow her passion in politics
African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (born 27 January 1949) is also aspiring for the South African presidency. After serving in several ministerial portfolios, Dlamini Zuma was elected AU Commissioner in July 2012, making her the first woman to lead the AU. She has diligently executed her assignment and can make a better president than her ex-husband.
Has the bdp really lost
The BDP seems to be in great denial as evidenced by a post by one of their propagandists, who in his Watsup outburst following Nasha’s decamping, wrote, “Just why is BMD/UDC members celebrating when Mma Nasha joins them. She is a political reject. Mma Nasha’s political journey was ended more than 15 years ago at Gaborone Central. In case people forget, she benefited more than other women in the BDP. She was appointed Ambassador under QKJ Masire, two terms as specially elected. The very same opposition ba re o tsentswe ka fensetere. Even after she lost, she was elected Speaker by BDP MPs. She only got bitter when Gladys Kokorwe was preferred over her in 2014”.
Hitting back, the opposition commentators dismissed the specially nominated councillor for Gaborone City Council as just bitter. Many retorted , ’o tsentswe ka fenstere’ They told Nasha’s detractors that what is important is she brings to the BMD/UDC fold experience in governance, party politic, international relations, and conflict resolution - the kind of things that are the cornerstone of any government, or aspiring government.
In fact, the argument that she is a political reject does not hold water because being rejected by voters does not necessarily mean that one is incapable of executing official duties, as BDP proved with her and many others. For instance there are many ‘political rejects’ in cabinet, such as Unity Dow, Eric Molale, and Kitso Mokaila amongst others. Before them there were the likes of Lesego Motsumi, former president Ketumile Masire who after losing to the BNF’s former president Kgosi Bathoen II, and the late Peter Mmusi who in 1984 was appointed Vice President after losing the controversial by-election to the then BNF president, Kenneth Koma. Some of these individuals have executed their duties very well even though they were political rejects. Infact, there are former MPs who are now in the public service after they were rejected by voters, among them Olebile Gaborone, Duke Masilo and Mmolotsi Raletobane.
It can only be argued therefore, Peloewetse and other BDP activists are in denial that his party continues to lose valuable and ordinary members to the opposition and therefore increasing and strengthening opposition ranks.
Again, there are MPs and councillors who were voted by a huge number of people only for such officers to fail in delivering their promises to the voters. Some do not add value to the debates in the respective Houses, yet they were voted by a huge number of people.
Numbers are as important to the game of politics as goals are to the game of football. That is why the Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi has now made it his mission to set aside time from his busy schedule to welcome each and every new member to the BDP, especially those who claim to be defecting from the opposition, even if such new members happen to be just pranksters.
Who she is going to find
There are many people that Nasha has crossed swords with during her term as a cabinet minister and one such individual is Kgosi Kgosikwena Sebele, a BNF and UDC member. Infact, Sebele has revealed that he was campaigning for UDC to oust the two BDP giants in Daniel Kwelagobe and Gaotlhaetse Matlhabaphiri.
But Sebele is a mature man who appreciates that when Nasha came to address Bakwena in a fully packed Kgotla meeting in 2005, at the height of the Bakwena chieftainship dispute, she was just a messenger. Then minister of Local Government, Lands and Housing, Nasha was simply on a government assignment and Kgosikwena knows it. On that day, minister Nasha went to the Kgotla to deliver the bad news that Kgosikwena should hand over to Kgari Sechele who is the rightful heir of the Bakwena chieftainship. Kgari was ultimately installed as Bakwena Kgosikgolo.
Nasha was also the same minister who implemented the controversial relocation of Basarwa from the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve in the early 2000s that triggered a court case between Basarwa led by Roy Sesana against the government. The case that took several years before its conclusion in November 2006 was among the longest cases in the country’s history. President of UDC Duma Boko was in the legal team that represented Basarwa, and will be sitting in the same desk with Nasha discussing future government manoeuvres. Indeed there are no permanent enemies in politics. The UDC is definitely going to benefit from her experience.
But the UDC should be prepared for a woman who also does not believe that the leadership should issue instructions all the time. She speaks her mind, and is not afraid to tackle her party and leadership head-on and publicly, something that Masisi spoke of during a GabzFM interview this week.
In addition to the Parliament Hansard, Nasha has put it in her book that she is capable of going an extra mile to defend what she believes in, or get what is hers.
She will be competing with Pilane for the attention of the UDC leadership on which advice they should take and she may find herself giving advice to the former special advisor to the President - Pilane.
So it may be interesting to see how she handles a strong-willed Boko and his UDC team.