Botswana government is over-reacting

| Tuesday February 9, 2010 00:00

The court fined them US$100 each and freed them. Indeed there has been a lot of anticipation for the court verdict in Botswana. Our hearts go out to the families of the three game rangers who without doubt have been going through a lot of anguish and will need time to heal. It is a relief that the game warders are back home, after almost three weeks of incaceration in Zimbabwean prison cells. These have also been weeks of much government hubble-bubble as the Botswana government tried to engage the Zimbabwean government, with a view to solving the matter diplomatically.

The Botswana government has involved everyone from Botswana's envoy in Zimbabwe, Gladys Kokorwe, Foreign Affairs Minister Phandu Skelemani and Vice-President Mompati Merafhe. All of them have played their part, in order to solve this impasse diplomatically. Reports from our Botswana government indicate that their efforts in trying to address this issue have been openly rebuffed.

In retaliation the government has decided to be tough with President Robert Mugabe. Our government is withdrawing military and intelligence officers from our mission in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean government is expected to do the same. The situation is getting more tense by the day. We can understand why senior officers in government feel snubbed.  We think it is tacky of Mugabe to disrespect our Vice-President when he had asked for a meeting, and for Mugabe not even to have the courtesy to decline the meeting but to merely fly out of Addis Ababa without saying a word! It is agonisingly difficult to deal with people like Mugabe, who have lost all sense of decency.

Whilst we shared our government's frustration at how this issue was being handled by the rogue Zimbabwean government we are convinced that our own government is over-reacting and playing into the cheap antics of Mugabe. The new tough talk bordering on war talk from our government only serves to validate people like Mugabe and his cronies who have been itching for confrontation with those who do not see things their way. What we all needed was to see the three wildlife officials released from Zimbabwean authorities and that we could do without playing into the hands of the Mugabe government. It is clear Mugabe and his cronies want confrontation, let us take the high road and deny them the confrontation they seek.

It is very easy to be macho and to whip people's emotions by showing how the Zimbabweans are unreasonable, and this will in a second elicit xenophobic sentiments that may lurk amongst our people. Before long we will have mayhem in our streets in Francistown, Gaborone, Plumtree, Bulawayo, Matsiloje, Ramokgwebana and Maitengwe.

But we do not need this and we can stop this by toning down on our tough talk.  Botswana has taken a principled stance against Mugabe's atrocities and rape of democracy when everybody else in the region was quiet but we still decided to maintain diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe. Let us continue to engage the Zimbabwean government on how issues such as the matter in point should be solved without jeopardising our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe.

                                                                       Today's thought

                                            Diplomacy is thinking twice before saying nothing.

                                                                        - Annon