Recommendations for the region image-cleansing imperative

Kgosietsile Ngakaagae | Friday August 21, 2020 14:12

I insist that if indeed Khama committed crimes, the system should simply have gone for a head shot and if unsure, kept its guns in the holsters and done a thorough investigative job before going on the offensive.  Whether for President Khama is winning the legal battle is one thing. What is certain is that, he is winning the PR battle. The Blair report cannot be ignored. To be sure, there is credibility issue when a report commissioned by a man, exonerates him. But what other option did the man have? He could not have folded back his arms and accepted his fate.

The report has no evidence those it exonerates are innocent. What it does, however, is put the regime on the back-foot. They must credibly refute it blow-by-blow, come up with credible alternative facts, or it must be accepted as true. In lieu thereof, an apology would be due to General Khama, Colonel Isaac Kgosi and agent Butterfly. There is no other way.

Presently, we are in an intractable mess, in terms whereof, the regime does not know whether to advance or to retreat. The regime is making a mess of itself. It is not all about political bile. It also has a lot to do with institutional capture. Had the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), and Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) been independent, we would not be in this mess.

We are in it simply because these institutions have been successfully captured, politicised and weaponised for political objectives. Otherwise, they would have told the regime, in clear terms, where to get off.

The DPP and DCEC di tshwanetse go ilelwa, betso. But, as said, these institutions were captured and weaponised against political adversaries. I do not say that the political adversaries are clean, any more than I can say that the Masisi regime is itself clean. Both regimes (the present and bygone) are a cesspool of institutionalised corruption and petty politics at a king size scale. There is as much corruption under the Masisi administration as there was under the Khama administration, and it’s all institutionalised. Cabinet is as corrupt now, as it was then.  Until now though, the DCEC and the DPP are fumbling badly, and it’s a shame. The two institutions ought to have been the first level of protection of constitutional ideals against politicians.  Politicians by nature, have a ravenous trait and are jealous of institutional independence of prosecutorial and oversight institutions. That is because institutional independence prevents them from doing corruption and getting away with it. That is why the DCEC were put under the Office of the President. That’s is why the Masisi regime is yet to change this anomaly. The DPP, as an independent institution, are constitutionally independent, and should have dug in against the administration. But we have an integrity crisis in this country where oversight institutions are merely appendages of the Office of the President. The regime further banked on the manipulation of the Judiciary to achieve this obnoxious end. To that end, the Judges selection system has been consistently manipulated by the regime to ensure that pliable and unethical judges are the one who routinely receive and adjudicate over cases where there is a political interest. Whilst our Judiciary remains largely credible and independent, and should be celebrated as an African success story, there is a small cabal of captured and horrendous judges working for the system, whose sole duties are to generate judicial outcomes for the regime. They are doing that with aplomb. They feel safe behind contempt laws and other laws protecting the judiciary from criticism, including the Penal Code. These things ought to be said of course, and the repercussions of saying them must be borne with fortitude. I will not mention the names of such Judges for fear of libel, but they know themselves and the regime knows them too. A day will come when these individuals will take their places in the judicial hall of shame. For now, it’s enough that they know we know them. It is wise on that score, to say no more. I recommend the following for the regime, as an image cleansing imperative. The Masisi regime must let go of the High Court registry Judges selection process which they have in a deathly grip. That the process is random is a flat lie. You only have to observe patterns to understand. It will be the first step towards regaining credibility. Secondly, the regime must withdraw Butterfly’s case, without prejudice. There is still, time to do thorough investigative work. Indeed it will be an egg on the face for the regime, but the present spectacle is no better. It is denting the nation’s international image and killing public confidence on the regime, locally. Thirdly, the regime must appoint an independent “Commission of Enquiry on allegations of corruption by the Khama regime”. The enquiry should be broad based and should not focus on individuals. For that, a foreign, distinguished, retired Judge with the dignitas of the likes of Judge Sachs and Advocate Bizos be appointed to head it. I am one for local, but a local would be ill suited for the task. It would likely be just another captured sitting judge from the small cabal I have talked about. We have men and women of integrity on both the High Court and Court of Appeal bench, but those don’t appeal to politicians. They would not be chosen. We need some people who wouldn’t sell their souls to the highest bidder. The recommendations of the commission will guide future action and this will avoid the problem of selective prosecutions. The Commission could be followed by a forensic investigation into its findings, which forensic investigation would assist the DPP in determining if any case could be made against anyone. The Commission will further, shed light on the roles of members of the current regime, in particular, the extent to which they are, and have been involved in the very corruption they pretend to be investigating. The grandstanding must stop. Oh, yes, I said a Commission of Enquiry. Don’t act surprised; I come from Mahalapye.