Mutiparty or two-party democracy, which way Botswana?

It isn’t very clear what shade of democracy Batswana prefer at the moment. When Botswana attained independence she single-mindedly opted for multiparty democracy.

It was a break with the single-party democracy model adopted by the majority of African countries who had gained their independence ahead of Botswana in 1966. One-party democracy, except to its proponents wasn’t democracy at all, but a dictatorship of the elite of the new government system introduced. In the background of the 24/10/14 shell shock election results which dizzied some, euphorically infected others, spread headaches to the rest, a new furrow is being ploughed of a two-party model. Am I right?

The single-party democracy advocates argued that the system was democratic, seen from the historical and cultural perspective. They postulated that the kgotla-inkundla administration was democratic in essence: People gathered in kgotla/inkundla under the aegis of kgosi/inkosi, listened to the reports, exchanged views, debated and took decisions based on majority opinion. What more did one need to demonstrate a democratic exercise?

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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