As I See It-Twisted logic

MICHAEL DINGAKE | Tuesday February 9, 2010 00:00

Yes a lot of mud is being slung and I personally expect more to come. But now more than ever, we have reason to believe that the high points Botswana is getting for being one of least corrupt societies in the world are indeed well-deserved. None of this seems to undermine democratic principles.' (Chaim Even-Zohar writing in Mmegi volume 27)

Apologists are to be found at most unlikely times and places. Who would imagine that after the most scandalous revelations exposing the systematic corruption practiced by the ruling party to stay in office and to enrich top government officials, you would still find professional analysts who write that 'the high points Botswana is getting for being one of the least corrupt societies in the world are indeed well deserved?' Only Even-Zohar with his twisted logic!  A paradox of misery proving comfort potential?

Even-Zohar bases his assertions on the un-researched sentiments that 'the press is allowed to report it all without restrictions...' Obviously the writer has not read the Media Practitioners Act, which is in the statute books, with the one intention of restricting the freedom of the press nor has he read the remark of the Minister of  Defence, Justice and Security in The Voice interview where he sternly suggests that asking questions about his company's engagement  in questionable deals with his Ministry was likely 'to raise eyebrows.' Does it sound like reporting without restrictions?

We advise Even-Zohar to read the Media Act and the Minister's intimidating and dodgy remarks about 'conflict of interest' before he jumps to the absurd conclusion of awarding undeserved marks to the BDP government. The government takes advantage of the ignorance, non-militant, docile and submissive nature of the citizenry, which it is now reinforcing with the intimidating tactics applied by the DIS agents who have become a veritable law unto themselves, killing, threatening to kill, bullying and wiretapping telephone conversations.

Government apologists like Even-Zohr need to do extensive research about the incidence of corruption in the country before they venture into the highly specialised nocturnal business of the sophisticated corruption practiced by Botswana government; Batswana are enraged by the ruling party sharing the riches of the country with aliens, foreign multinationals, while they are consigned to the gloomy sidelines of spectators, watching helplessly while Debswana throw 461 of them out of employment to maintain the slush fund that keeps the BDP in power;

Batswana small businesses, fat cake vendors, watch tearfully while the foreign supermarkets out-compete them in the only business trade they know; now a new phenomenon of Chinese construction companies has aggressively appeared on the horizon, elbowing everybody out in particular fledgling Batswana companies out of the lucrative construction industry: Chinese are everywhere: dams, roads, government buildings, schools and sewers while poor Batswana are nowhere; those who had acquired skills on construction, have been marginalised to the periphery to serve at least as exploited sub-contractors in the monopoly industry enjoyed by Chinese, and senior government Ministers can gloat and blurt their welcome to the arrival of these companies from the East as a 'welcome development' because hitherto the government was being 'exploited' by Batswana (Batswana ba ne ba a ja goromente ntsoma!) We know why these outrageous utterances and  disgraceful attitude to Batswana is fashionable: The ruling Communist Party of China besides granting aid and doling out low-interest loans to the government as such, has been reported, greasing the ruling BDP's palm with P5 million donations! Who knows by how much more, when tenders are negotiated at the dim-lit tables of Bull and Bush and other Gaborone eateries? And then you have analysts who want to parade the BDP as paragons: '........ The high points Botswana is getting are indeed well deserved..' Huh!

We appreciate Even-Zohar deliberately writes for potential investors abroad to come and invest in  our Botswana. Thanks, but no thanks Sir! FDI for whose benefit? Mutual benefit, you say? No, Batswana unapologetically demand affirmative action. This country is ours, and the labour producing diamonds ours, and heartlessly exploited already!

Read the first page article of the Sunday Standard of January 24 -30  Sir, it outlines 'De Beers, Debswana slush funds' at the disposal of the BDP, its leaders, operatives and VIPs for close to three decades right from the start of Masire's regime in the early eighties: payment of huge President's debts, financing election campaigns except the last two, sponsoring workshops to plot change of the guard at the top, advancing petrol money for stranded cabinet ministers on vacation, forking out cash for entertainment of VIP guests;  money laundering deals, trampling the rule of law, were entered into without batting an eyelid to indulge the BDP greed and appetite to remain  in office. Party officials may deny their misdeeds all they want, but all the waters of Chobe, Okavango, Zambezi, Shashi, Motloutse, Kolobeng and all their tributaries will not wash their dirty hands nor dissolve the grease in their bank accounts and pockets. Debswana and the BDP, accomplished  crooks that they are and have been, have not been smart enough to cover all their criminal tracks;  now the chickens are coming home to roost!The learned analyst tells us, '....none of these seems to undermine democratic principles.' May we ask, what is the learned gentleman's conception of democratic principles?

Winning elections funded by slush funds? Denying rival parties transparent public funding? Complicity in money laundering? Scheming regime change without involvement of Batswana? Shelving a unanimously adopted motion by Parliament to pass a law on the 'declaration of assets and liabilities' to fight conflict of interest, the number one source of corruption in the country? Harnessing Radio Botswana, the Daily News, and Btv as propaganda organs of the ruling party when these should serve the interests of Batswana irrespective of party affiliation as they are run on public taxes? Democratic principles, indeed!