Ntwa kgolo...
Mmegi Editor | Thursday July 20, 2017 11:31
Violent politics are not the preserve of certain African states or cultures over others and have nothing to do with race, history or even drivers such as poverty and greed.
Anytime human beings are engaged in a race for power or influence, certain animal instincts fight to break to the surface, turning even the most genteel of candidates into stone or punch-throwing hooligans.
For some time now, in fact, for the several years preceding the 2014 general elections, the temperature of political dialogue in Botswana has heated up and become noticeably more hostile and desperate.
Inner party and inter-party relations have soured apparently as the advent of the Umbrella for Democratic Change has intensified the competition for political purchase around the country.
Politicians have claimed witch-hunts, assassination plots, assaults, infiltration and intimidation by intelligence agents, a situation hitherto unheard of in local politics.
In the past, as a publication, we have appealed to all political actors, from leaders to the grassroots, as well as associated stakeholders, to tone down the rhetoric and learn from the lessons of political intolerance offered by South Africa, Zimbabwe and other neighbouring states.
Fanned on by social media where activists of various political parties have learnt that increasing their followers or ‘likes’ requires increasingly acerbic commentary, the war drums in the local political environment have been beating louder and louder.
It is not in doubt that the issues at play here are of considerable consequence. The forthcoming elections represent the united opposition’s best chance to unseat the ruling Botswana Democratic Party and for the first time since independence, introduce an alternative model of governance. Certainly the stakes are high and for personal political ambitions, the rewards promised are tantalising.
It is within these rising temperatures in the general political sphere that the specific tensions within the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) have played out. In an atmosphere of aggressive binary politics, the tensions within the BMD naturally assumed an antagonistic approach and camps developed from national to ward level, without necessarily sound analysis of the issues around the division. In such a climate, Bobonong and its violence was always inevitable and the statements from parties involved in the issue after the weekend, point to escalating tensions.
One important stakeholder, the media, has a role to firstly, not fan the flames of violence, and secondly promote dialogue through analysis of the issues at hand. Another even more important stakeholder will be the judicial system where no doubt the conflicting parties will next turn.
The judiciary, however, cannot totally resolve a political problem. That will come down to the attitudes of the members and their leaders and their loyalty to ordinary Batswana.
Today's thought'Nothing good ever comes of violence.'-Martin Luther