This scandal needs a commission

| Friday January 29, 2010 00:00

We can not agree more with him when he says, 'but, given our culture of accountability, I have concluded I would be shirking my social responsibility if I failed to address those allegations that are of undoubtedly wider concern'.

We hope others who have been mentioned in this scandal will follow suit and not shirk their social, but also their political, corporate  and moral responsibility. Until they say their side of the story, there will be  lack of clarity and it will remain public perception and opinion that they benefitted because of their vicinity to political decision making. We accept Sir Ketumile's 'confession' that what he did is not consistent with 'rigorous guidelines of good governance'.

The solution to this scandal does not particularly lie in accusations and counter-accusations, but in allowing for a process which will reveal the truth.

While former president Sir Ketumile Masire has admitted to having had private dealings with De Beers, what is needed is an enquiry to allow an independent body to look at the relevant information and then make a determination as to whether there was abuse of power, office and authority or not on his part and others who have allegedly benefitted from not only De Beers but Debswana which is partly owned by government.

Sir Ketumile is confessing now after so many years and therefore we can not completely rely on him. De Beers on the other hand has been a bad corporate citizen and therefore we can not fully rely on what it says. Its presence in this country has been driven by self-interest and desire to achieve its objectives regardless of the accompanyying costs to Batswana.

Contrary to the BNF position, De Beers has over the years either refused to or failed to set up diamond beneficiation operations in the country which could have created employment opportunities for our people. All this was happenning with the nod and tacit approval of the BDP government. It can not be denied that De Beers as a private company can enter into any transaction with whoever it deems fit though the case is different with Debswana. These were no ordinary transactions. It was transactions between companies which got and continue to get most of their throughput from their mining activities in Botswana and the country's Heads of State and other decision-makers in the country's diamond industry.

With Sir Ketumile and  Festus Mogae  who are allegedly some of the recipients of such benevolent gestures, being former Heads of State, they were custodians of national resources which included diamonds. They had the final say on how the resources could be mined and what kind of an agreement the government could enter into in their mining.

This De Beers scandal strengthens our long held position that all decision makers in both government or parastatals should declare their interests.

The former Head of State, Sir Ketumile Masire is also a former leader of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) which also allegedly benefitted handsomely from another instance of De Beers benevolence but omits to say anything about the BDP donation in his statement. To us this donation, which was secretive, was meant to warm up BDP government to De Beers interests.

Such donations have distorted our democracy and ensured that we have Plutocracy, a situation whereby power rests with the rich. The consistent suffering that Batswana have been subjected to by the BDP has been sustained by companies like De Beers.  The BDP government has introduced labour laws which we have repeatedly said are biased in favour of employers. We can not remember a single legal strike that has taken place in this country.

This is not because workers do not have grievances, but it is because the laws have been drafted in such a way that strikes are technically not allowed. This is not by accident but by design.

We have said it and we will continue to say it! The BDP is a neo-colonial party which was formed to protect the interests of the Haves in this country and International Capital.  It was formed to play a compradore role as the Botswana People's Party (BPP), which was came into being before the BDP, was perceived by the British, who were already preparing to leave the country, as too radical.

The BDP government has made the laws and the courts are  just administering what BDP has pronounced. For as long as the BDP is in power, we will continue to have a distorted democracy and disregard for social justice.

The dismissal of the Debswana 461 and BCL 181 workers becomes relevant. What matters is the interests of companies like De Beers because they finance BDP activities and end up being the wielders of what we perceive to be illegitimate power. They can engage and pay a consultant to advise on how the dwindling political fortunes of the BDP in the elections can be reversed so that their stay in power is prolonged.

This they did in the late 90's when they engaged Professor Lawrence Schlemmer who has also done some work for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in South Africa. That is why acting on one of the recommendations of Schlemmer they, through their influence, caused Sir Ketumile who was a 'democratically elected President' to leave and decide who should succed him.

The truth has been revealed. The party does not belong to its members. The only honour given to them and sense of ownership they have is to make short term decisions. Long time and serious decisions are reserved for those who are paying the piper.  They can even buy one out of the presidency and are not even ashamed to admit it. What a tragedy!  Companies like De Beers do not fund BDP because they like it. They are using it as a tool to achieve their objectives. It is coming across as a willing partner. It is a party that can be easily manipulated and bought. The allegations raised in the De Beers scandal are so serious and border on treason. We hope the BDP government will relent to calls for a Commission of Inquiry. The findings of such an Inquiry should be made public and action taken against those who come about badly in the report. Thanking you.

Moeti Mohwasa
Information and Publicity Secretary