Mogae, American biographer fallout
Tefo Pheage | Friday August 12, 2016 17:02
The book project, which Edge was doing with the assistance of some Batswana, started in 2009 immediately after Mogae left office, with extracts from the unpublished works making rounds in 2012. The Mogae autography has promised to reflect “on his life, as a young Motswana, through his education to his period as a civil servant, and to that infamous episode in his presidency when on a windy afternoon an old friend knocked on his door looking for favours over the Debswana fiasco” among many other episodes.
Eight years on, with the book still to hit the presses, all is not well between the two. Mmegi has learnt that Mogae has unilaterally terminated his working relationship with Edge, a move and development which author sternly warns could open a can of worms.
Responding to Mmegi questions, Mogae said he is “no longer working with Dr Wayne Edge on this project”, something Edge disputed saying as far as he was concened, he remained Mogae’s biographer. Edge told Mmegi that he has never received any correspondence terminating their relationship.
Despite the latest developments, the former president confirmed that “there is a project to publish the biography”. He added that despite everything, “the project has not been abandoned”. He ascribed the delays and complications on the initial project of a more general biography to these key factors.
“It is work in progress. There is a manuscript requiring substantial editing and this takes a long time, noting the present international assignments, particularly the one on the peace process in South Sudan,” Mogae said.
Mogae said he was also considering publishing a political biography and a book, separately, on the period of his presidency.
Mogae’s American biographer painted a gloomy picture of the project and the relationship and warned of looming complications should the former president ditch him at this stage of the book project.
Edge emphasised that he remainsedMogae’s biographer..
“As far as I am aware, I remain the biographer of Rre Mogae and have an excellent grasp of his life and years in political office. This does not mean that I am the only one aware of his various contributions. In addition, as reflected in both the written work and the video-taped interviews, during the course of asking questions and interacting with Rre Mogae over a year, I understand that each question leads to new questions and there is a logic in the process which is not replicable or immediately decipherable,” he said in an email response to Mmegi.
Edge agreed that Mogae was at liberty to bring anyone on board to start a new project based on their own research and investigation but warned that “unfortunately, while my contribution was made beginning in 2009, within a year after Rre Mogae left office, it’s now seven years on, and some of the interviewees and office holders from the time when he was in power are no longer available while Rre Mogae’s memory of events now may be significantly different than it was then”.
He continued: “I note that if one plans on utilising the materials currently available on videotape they are still, in some way, a part of my intellectual property. Writing creatively is a unique skill involving asking questions, which lead to other questions derived from the answers provided, then based upon the results of the answers transforming the dialogue into a manuscript.”
He shed some light on some issues and voluntarily discussed the money issue, saying “although I did work with Rre Mogae for a year, I would be willing to pick up the pen and resume the various tasks required to complete either the book or film project in any capacity.
“The costs are negotiable and need not be a hindrance to finishing the tasks. As a scholar who has lived in and loved Botswana, the issue of completing the project is extremely important to me. The entire project was never about money to me, it was about telling the story of former president Festus Mogae to the world at large in a sensitive and insightful manner”.
Asked about whether Mogae did at any point express any misgivings on the project or anything Edge says “Rre Mogae was not happy about the initial transcriptions of the interviews which I presented to him in early December 2009. However, it was explained to him by me that these were only rough transcriptions and did not represent substantive writing. The writing of the complete project could only be carried out once the interviews were finished. The interviews actually were completed in April 2010”.
He said Mogae has always been happy with the work as he followed writing, editing, and submission process, throughout the entire written review. “At no stage did Rre Mogae and I have any disagreement, nor did he ever express any major misgiving about the project. Although he always felt that the film was unnecessary, my position was that the later the film work, the more the cost would inevitably rise, and he seemed to accept the validity of this position,” he explained. Asked as to when he last had a conversation with Mogae, Edge admitted that it had been years. “I have never had a conversation with Rre Mogae regarding this project since July 2010.”
The American added that, Mogae “is in complete control over the work on his life story, and can obviously do anything he wants with it. I never stopped him from getting someone else to write the story. I would however note that my support of Rre Mogae is unconditional. What may be a bit problematic is the utilisation of the interview questions to derive a new text more in line with his current views than those expressed in my questions and his answers”.
Edge further warned that the edited work that led to the initial draft of a book “belongs to me, in so far as it is derived from my views, questions and knowledge as a expert in the field. In short, if you would like to write a new text while working with Rre Mogae by asking new questions and conducting new interviews, I completely support this idea. However, your project should be a new separate one from that which I conceptualised, staffed, conducted, wrote, and brought to fruition throughout the course of a year in my life. Moreover, even if not utilised in the near future, it is noted that the previous text, which was presented by me, may well be published at a later date as an unauthorised and thus independent biography”.
The American insisted that their parting was amicable, with the understanding that Mogae was to read the first draft and provide commentary for any revisions he might have had.
“In so far as the raw materials served as background data for potential incorporation, the original text of the draft represents an area of my own intellectual property, because every writer creates their own story, based on the relevant themes and their access to the subject materials. Obviously I have continued to carry out academic projects but the one based on the great story of Botswana’s third president Festus Mogae remains unpublished and subject to what Marx once called the gnawing criticism of the mice,” he said. In order to conduct this extraordinarily important project, Edge said he had a great deal of background in the field, interviewed more than 20 of Rre Mogae’s colleagues, and had reviewed many of the speeches and other writings Mogae carried out throughout a long distinguished career.
“I note that in 2011, I sent a publisher to Rre Mogae in an attempt to publish the book, and requested that Ms. Lethola go speak directly with Rre Mogae about the creation of the film. Until such time as Rre Mogae provides a critique of the draft manuscript my hands are tied,” he says. Efforts to make a follow up with Mogae were futile as he could not respond due to international commitments in South Sudan where he is brokering peace.
Extracts from the unpublished works
When the news broke that Mogae’s biography was in the pipeline, many expected a juicy read as they are still today, owing to the subjects’s free spirit and plain talk. One juicy chapter among many others was the one in which he was discussing his dealings with the late Louis Nchindo, a close friend later turned sworn enemy.
The chapter reads:
“On a windy morning, nearing the end of my presidency, I received a visit from an old friend asking for a favour.
His request was extraordinary, for he asked that I halt the forensic audit, which I had ordered into his former company Debswana, and drop the criminal charges against him by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
“When I refused to cooperate with him he said he would, expose first his companies dealings with my predecessor, their financial support of the governing Botswana Democratic Party, and last but not least he would tell the nation of my private social affairs with girlfriends, who shared a few pleasant evenings with me in his firms’ guest house. In response to the man’s presentation I noted that his request was equivalent to blackmail, which I would not succumb to, and he should therefore proceed to tell his ‘story to one and all, because I had nothing to hide’. Later on he went to a number of people in my party and said that as regards the criminal charges against him he ‘would not die alone’.
“When I was told of his words with the party members I noted that: ‘as long as the records of his company were in order there was no reason for anyone to die.’ This was not just idle chit chat, the company in question is Debswana, the corporation which serves as the link between DeBeers and the nation of Botswana, and is directly responsible for a vast amount of government revenue, our national wealth, through the sale of the countries diamonds. On the other hand the DCEC is responsible for investigating corruption at all levels in the country. The charges of corruption are the most serious ones in Botswana, so the case of my former friend is going to trial where he shall receive a fair hearing to prove his innocence, like every other citizen of Botswana.”
Mogae says the only reason his story is important is because he became president of Botswana and did so from the most humble of origins.
“Through a bit of luck, linked to the winds of change blowing through our nation and continental Africa during my generation, and some of my own efforts, which were widely recognised, amongst my supervisors and peers, I was able to rise to the highest position in the nation. This very rise to leadership of our great country makes my story one of hope and optimism.
It is indeed the potential story of every youth in Botswana, who dares to dream and work towards their realisation; for if I could become president then anyone born in this land has the real possibility of doing so.
”His story he adds is not just about someone who wore rags and gained riches, but also about an entire nation pulling together, and utilising every available resource to create a new distinct way forward towards a better life for everyone.
“It is my sincere hope that when future generations review the history of my life they will dutifully reflect upon how our country, Botswana, was able to enter the world of nations as a forthright, able, highly respected member of the international community, with something to contribute to the world.
Through the efforts of her sons and daughters, who made countless sacrifices in the pursuit of national development, excellence, and equity, Botswana has emerged as a full partner in world history.” Going back to his youth, Mogae says he entered school at a time when women were not the owners of their destiny and could not make decisions affecting their educational standards.
Many of the best Batswana students, he says, were women, some of whom may have been able to beat me out with better grades, but found themselves married off by their parents, to some guy they did not know, because he had some cattle or a good job at the post office, the local shop, or the government. “So while the young women went with their chosen husbands and had babies, I went to school.”