For Botswana, that day happens once every five years. So it was that on October 30, 2024, we, the qualifying citizens of this country, were voters willing to sit in a queue for up to two hours, quietly bearing the late spring heat, while chatting about nothingness or lost in our inner thoughts. Eventually we would cast our vote as if we were casting aside our uncertainty about ourselves and others. That vote, made by marking an “X” on a half-page sheet of paper which is later counted as closely as if it were a crook’s money, is a small reduction of the aspirations that a voter really intends to convey as their hope for this country.
The average age of the citizens in Botswana is that of a youth. Official figures show that 70% of the population is aged 10 - 35. This is the demographic that largely should constitute the biggest voting bloc although the elections’ agency does not ask nor provide information on the age of voters. In other words, unless a significant percentage of this demographic votes for a candidate and their party, that candidate and party may conceivably not succeed in the elections. When the results of this election were announced, and the opposition were triumphant through its commanding victory while the ruling party was vanquished through a crushing defeat, what is certain is that this was unprecedented. What may be less certain but is highly plausible and thus probable is that the results of the elections reflected both an active participation of the youth in the voting and a desire for change - a change of administration, a change of direction, and a change of perception. This country's voting youth did not make that change happen alone. But I believe that they were central in keeping alive the possibility and wisdom of a change of government and of the ruling party. I also believe that they were key to helping us, the old folks, to be free to think how right we could be about the capabilities of others to lead us, to us accepting how wrong we have been about the capabilities of some.
