How 'free and fair' are 'regular' elections in Botswana?

RAMPHOLO MOLEFHE | Friday March 12, 2010 00:00

USAID, in recent years more keen on collective regional projects rather than strictly national undertakings, also takes an interest in checking on the health of democracy in the regions it assists.  Some of those are: -

*Regular free and fair elections*An independent judiciary* An independent and free press*Freedom from corruption* Openness and accountability in governance* Equitable distribution of  wealth* Gender equity*Respect for minority groups

From the very onset, the ruling party demonstrated an inclination for such manipulation of the electoral process in such a way as to worsen the effects of the inherent imbalance in the resources of the ruling and opposition parties.

The general election which should have been held five years after the first in 1966 was called in 1969 instead of 1971.

The Westminster political tradition of London permits the Prime Minister to call elections on a date to be decided by the holder of the office, usually to test his or her support where there is evidence of national anxiety about the legitimacy of his reign.  The election might also be called earlier than the date of expiry of the term limit in the event of a vote of no confidence or some other earth shattering event.

The second general election, most evidence indicates, was called because Seretse Khama feared that retired King of the BaNgwaketse, Bathoen Gaseitsiwe, who joined the Botswana National Front, would have too much time between his retirement and 1971 to campaign and threaten the dominance of the Botswana Democratic Party.

There was no national emergency. There had been no 'Motion of No Confidence'.  There was no crisis that would have challenged his authority to rule.  There was only the threat of the rise to national prominence of a viable alternative government which is the hallmark of any democracy worth its salt.

The efficacy of British and America democracy relies on the contest between the Labour and Conservative and the Democratic and Republican parties for interchange of political power.

This was probably the first political indicator in Botswana of the manner in which the African leaders will be quiet ready to corrupt the well meaning customs of the Westminster system to suit their crooked ulterior motives.

The BDP went on to win by a handsome margin even if Seretse's vice president, Ketumile Masire, was effectively banished from Parliament, losing to Bathoen at every subsequent election, nevertheless retaining access to Cabinet by way of the limitless number of terms to which the president could appoint 'specially elected' MPs.

That established the tradition by which the president and the Minister of Local Government and Lands, as the office was called then, were able to return to Parliament and the councils candidates who had been defeated at the general election purely on the basis of party affiliation rather than special skills.

The opposition parties now demand that the manner in which the president calls elections should be written into the constitution in such as way as to allow all the contesting party timely preparation for the election.

The 'Independent Electoral Commission' established at the behest of the opposition BNF, is appointed from the Office of the President and has no influence on the manner in which elections are called.  The All-Party Conference, which could make proposals about the desired constitutional reform, is as good as dead. Otherwise the elections have been regular starting after 1969.  The notion of 'free' elections depends primarily on the guarantee of the secret ballot, but also on the general protection of the voter in the intervening period. 

In several elections it has happened that the voter's token could be traceable to him or her.  The most common error involved presiding officers who instruct the voters to place the number of their voter registration card on the envelope into which he will put the token.  Uneducated voters do it without instruction from the election officers.

Others keep the tokens they did not cast as evidence to onlookers, on or outside the premises of the voting booth, to show the parties they did not vote for, and by implication, the party they did vote for.

Overall, however, it does appear that the Botswana voter has been guaranteed the secrecy of his or her ballot.  There have been no significant reported cases of violence and intimidation at the general election.

Fairness in the conduct of the elections has suffered for the following reasons: - Disproportionate administrative assistance and sponsorship of the ruling party by the international mining magnate De Beers and big business in Botswana.  The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has also been accused of facilitating conferences for the BDP to the exclusion of the opposition parties.

Disrespect for the electoral law that limits the amount of money that a candidate is permitted to use in his or her election campaign.  The legal provision is averted by diverting financial support for the individual candidate to the party which spends without limit.

Starting with the first elections, cabinet ministers were given Ford Fairlane cars which they used for electioneering. 

The custom has since been inherited by Toyota, which sponsors the ruling party to the exclusion of others.

Positioning of some voting stations on the farms and properties of rich people, it is believed, intimidates the farm workers and other employees into voting for the ruling party.  There have also been reports of abuse of government institutions, especially the police, army and prisons, by bosses who use their positions to campaign for the ruling party. (The most recent incidence involves deprivation of officers who safeguard the process of the general election of their right to vote before the date of the prescribed date as was the practice in previous elections.  There could also be some improvement on the administration of the voting process for citizens outside the country; miners, students, diplomats and others).

The divide between the official privileges of members of Cabinet and their rights as partisan politicians is blurred. The president and his deputy in particular, have over the years cultivated the culture of abuse of official privilege, particularly with respect to state sponsored transport, using army vehicles and other government transport to campaign for the ruling party. The previous Attorney Generals and the Permanent Secretaries to the President and Cabinet Ministers have also been heard using their official positions to campaign for the policies of the ruling party at civil service conferences and kgotla.  They appear on the government posters that announce the Cabinet.

The most significant case related to election rigging is that of the 'Tshiamo Ballot Box' of 1984 named after the school at which the incident took place.

Then, returning officer for Gaborone South Where the Tshiamo ward box was located refused to make an audit of the ballot boxes that arrived at the Town Hall where the parliamentary votes were counted.

He gave as is his reason his obligation to conceal the voting patterns of the civil servants who voted previous to the date of the general election so that they could take their posts in different parts of the country where the director of elections posted them.

This he would do by opening all the ballot boxes for the parliamentarian for each constituency and pouring them onto the counting table to ensure that the vote of the elections officers was not distinguishable from that of the rest of the voters. That made it virtually impossible for the counting officers representing the candidates to keep track of the separate votes for the councillor and the parliamentarian whilst also performing an audit of the number of ballot boxes opened on each occasion when the counting table was replenished with fresh voting tokens from one or more of the voting stations.

All of these were possible considerations in the event of an election query.

Peter Mmusi of the BDP won by a contestable margin of about 200 hundred out of more than 8,000 votes and Gontse and the government counting officers refused a recount at about six o'clock in the morning claiming fatigue.  They were at the station at six the previous evening.

The law required that within a stipulated period of time the ballot boxes should be transferred to the High Court. In this case the ballot boxes were kept at the Office of the President only to be called out by then supervisor of elections, Festus Mogae, later to become president.

On information that there had been a call for a recount by Kenneth Koma's agents at the Town Hall, the supervisor of elections stumbled upon the unopened Tshiamo ballot box which, it is reported, was identified at the Attorney General's offices in Gaborone when the boxes for Gaborone South were gathered. The supervisor made the public announcement that the box had appeared, which information should have reached Chief Justice, O'brien Quinn, together with the papers filed by South African advocate, David Soggot, and Botswana attorney, Michael Mothobi within the two weeks then prescribed for electoral queries. A date was set - I believe November 22 - for the High Court hearing where Justice Quinn, sweating profusely under the gaze of Gaborone South contestant and BDP chairperson, Peter Mmusi, his secretary general, Daniel Kwelagobe, the BDP elite and a thousand and one BNF supporters, declared the Gaborone election void and announced a date for the bye election.

Koma won by a handsome margin coupling with Maitshwarelo Dabutha to take both Gaborone seats for the BNF where Paul Rantao also became mayor. Why did Gontse refuse an audit before the count?  Clearly, the audit would have warned him that the Tshiamo box was missing. Why were the ballot boxes kept at the Office of the President where the Supervisor of Elections was stationed and not with the High Court as stipulated by law?

What took so long - two weeks or more - to discover that the Tshiamo box was unopened?  No one saw anything until the demand for a recount was known! The biggest question is:  What would have happened if a recount was not demanded? It is now public knowledge that De Beers (and possibly Friedrich Ebert) have admitted to sponsoring the BDP election machinery even assisting with consultancies of the Schlemner type on the eve of the 1999 election.

If indeed there was premeditated corruption of the electoral process at Tshiamo in order to protect the BDP image, it suggests that these organisations could have been implicated in electoral fraud for giving advice contrary to the spirit of fair play at elections in a democracy. Member for Gaborone West South, Botsalo Ntuane, proposes a commission on constitutional reform.  That may be the only legal avenue towards breathing new life into the country's moribund mother law.

Read Mmegi for sequel on Free and Independent Press.